Red Bundle
by Prinnyramza
Summary: Eight minutes were sixteen years. That means that one more second could've been another hour.
1. Chapter 1

It started with a invader in his closet. Not that this this was a surprise to Marco. True, normally Janna was a lot more stealthy with this sort of thing but that just meant that for once he had the upperhand and he wasn't going to waste it.

Diaz slipped off his shoes, he'd make less noise that way and stuck to the walls, and slowly inched to his closet. He stepped back and struck.

With the loudest battle cry, he reeled his foot and kicked the closet door open.

He paused.

Who was in his closet? It wasn't Janna nor was it the obvious second choice, the magical girl that was his housemate.

Standing there with with long red hair, chalk white skin and long lashes was a girl who he knew very well.

It was: "Hekapoo?"

In retrospect, while still surprising, he had to admit it was a distant good third guess.

She turned to him and for a second he thought that she actually had the decency to look surprise and even maybe embarrassed. This flash of emotion however went away quickly and dissolved into an almost bored expression, "Oh hey kiddo."

She muttered and continue to whatever it was that she doing which at this moment seemed to be shuffling through the hoodies he had stashed away in his closet.

"What are you doing?" he set his foot down slowly, not really sure if he should be putting his guard down considering his large storage of memories with this girl.

"Wow I know you aren't this unobservant. I'm rummaging through your stuff" her pace in which she went through the red clothing seem to intensify for a bit as if punctuating her sentence.

Of course she was, but that isn't what he meant.

"Argh, where did you put it?"

Marco stepped forward, poking his head over the demonesses' shoulder, "Put what?"

She gave him a glare and turned as much as she could away from him while still comfortably being able breeze through the hangers, "Why do you have so many of these?"

"Like red, like hoodies. Got fifty of them." he stated in a matter of fact manner and she stopped, giving him a hard look, "hey don't judge, I actually go through them pretty fast."

She rolled her eyes, slipping her hand through another hoodie as she pushed it aside. There was a smell of burn cotton and as Marco glaze at her hand he could make out a bit of smoke starting to form as she touched each article of clothing, "Especially because I know girls like you."

The other dimensional woman gave a sigh before twisting around and grabbing the boy by the collar, "where's your hoodie?"

"Um" he looked at her.

He looked at his closet.

He looked at his hoodies.

Then he looked back at her.

"Is this a trick question?"

"Your hoodie. The one you had on for sixteen years lamebrain." she gripped him closer, "what? You threw it out the moment you got back to your dimension?"

He blinked, "Well I couldn't really wear it anymore." he told her and she looked away, "Didn't have the abs for it."

He let out a weak laugh and she let him go.

He rubbed his neck around where his collar rubbed against it. There were silence between the two. He stared at her and she found a whole new interest in his floor. He coughed and pointed over to a small cardboard box in his closet, "It's in there if you really want to know."

Her eyes widen and as he blinked she was already bending over, picking up the light container.

Overturning the box completely, she watched everything drop out. Some old pictures, a worn out hat, a skull mask. None of which was of interest to her, but she did find what she came for. A red hoodie, sliced up, not worth being worn by anyone and she smiled.

"Couldn't really find the heart to get rid of it." he rubbed the back of his neck, "Don't really have much else to remember those years by. Even the bald spot is starting to disappear."

"You always have the scissors." she spoke quickly.

"Yes I know," he traced his fingers against his pants and felt the inter dimensional device in his pocket, "they're not enough."

"No, I mean-" she paused "you do remember that I said you can come back any time."

"I remember but I'm not ready." he stepped towards her, "Hekapoo, if I went back now I don't think I could ever head home. There too much here that I'd leave behind."

She looked him in the eyes, "Are you saying that you left nothing important there?"

Marco started to open his mouth and she just sighed and looked away, "Don't answer that."

She held up the shredded hoodie, "The scissors will have to be enough."

Before he knew it, there was a familiar red portal and the demoness was gone.

He reach for his scissors once again. He could go after her. It was his keepsake after all and he did love the chase. It would be like old times. No, he couldn't do old times. The allure of old times felt too great. Old times ended with him gone for another sixteen years. Even if it didn't, even if his experience prove true and cut his journey to half of what it was before, he knew that the temptation would be too great.

So he just stared at the space and sighed.

That isn't to say that he completely let it go.

One day, he was taking a shower and out of nowhere he asked "Remember those years?"

"Those years?" a young girl asked from the other side of the shower walls. She was Star, wearing her green dress, long striped socks and devil horn headband.

"When I was gone", Marco leaned back against the closed shower door.

"You mean those eight minutes?" she suggested.

He muttered to himself, "It was sixteen years for me."

"What about them?" she straightened her back and look back at the impossible to make out shape that was behind the rough glass door.

"Hekapoo, do you know her?" he asked, "I mean Pony Head apparently knew her. Can't really figure out how she was worthy of dimensional scissors."

"Oh no, she like totally stole them."

"Of course she did." That made too much sense, "So like would Pony head know anything about her?"

After that he waited about a week. He didn't spend that time ideally. He had to do his homework and housework. Things that he used to take pride in but now he had to admit seemed like a waste. He however still thought that doing so was the responsible thing to do and being responsible was how you were suppose to live.

Of course the time wasn't a complete waste. There were days where he hung out with his friends. Jackie, his girlfriend for one.

She was impressed, or at least he hoped she was, with how he didn't seem to panic as much while she helped with her board. Even suggested that maybe he should get his own and practice.

He was more of a bike guy but he considered it.

Janna was there, making her usual remarks. He thought they might've been flirty, not in a way that she was making it known she was interested but in a way as to make him uncomfortable. She liked to see him squirm.

He turned around and shot a comment of his own and she gasped and laugh, slapping him on the arm. Her giggles went on probably longer than was required but she was surprised by his guts but was surprised at his guys. She even said so herself.

He spent time with Tom who challenged him to an array of video games. Marco bragged that he was a champ among st his friends, namely Ferguson and Alphonso but still found himself at the mercy of the demon.

Finally near the end of the week, Star and he went on an adventure later that week and while technically the scissors was his to do whatever with, making them a great bargaining chip, he still allowed her to pick the destination. There was only one place that he thought to go to in the universe and there didn't think that he should go there.

When saturday hit however, he knew in his gut that he couldn't delay what he had to do. He had told himself that school was the reason that he couldn't have go but in face of the weekend, he had to face that the true reason was nerves.

When he was sure that his parents were out and Star was busy with her spell book, he pulled out his scissors.

Where he went was an floating island with a large building, less like the tower he was expecting and more like a government building. Something you would see on earth in a big city somewhere, almost normal.

He stepped past the doorman, a green moose with a quick hello, asked the man at the front desk, a green moose if where the magical high commission was located and was stopped by security, a green moose.

Has he seen this guy here?

Marco looked back at the empty front desk.

Nah, he probably was just imagining it.

"Sir please step forward." the moose said and he stepped through the plain looking metal detector and continued to walk even when it came a life with red lights and a buzz.

He stopped.

"Sir, do you have any arcane objects on you?" The moose was polite and seemed cheery just doing his job.

Marco pulled out his scissors and twirled them around his finger, "Well this is sort of my ride home."

The guard lifted a plastic bin like the ones you would see at an airport.

The kid in the hoodie frowned, "Hey it wouldn't be cool if I um just held onto it? I kinda want to keep it on me."

The moose smile faltered for a second as he gave Marco a once over with his glance. He made a whine but then lowered the plastic bin, "I guess it'll be alright."

Security smiled pointed down the hall, "The elevator is right down the hall. The stairs to the right."

Diaz would later find out that not only were the elevator not working but apparently to go up the stairs you have to repeatedly backflip up them. Nothing about other dimensions were easy it seemed.

Hekapoo hated being on the list of the arguable top ten most powerful magical entities in the known universe.

it was because of that fact that she had a seat on the high commission. One that she could've turned down but then she would've been subjected to the constant whining of the other beings on the rhetorical list that she shared a space on.

"I don't see what we're all waiting for. We need to go in there and strip all flesh from any being willing to go against the council." crystal head shouted, "then do so to the rest of the planet just to be extra sure."

"Baa" goat brains said which Hekapoo was sure translated to something in the lines of "blah blah Rhombulus. Blah blah cool your jets. Blah blah don't really care about this conversation."

"Why is it that you never back me up Lekmet!" the wizard blubbered. Hekapoo could only describe it as blubbering.

The more she thought about it the more she realized that the result of her joining the commission and not joining the commission were pretty much the same except if she wasn't part of the club then she could be on the beach somewhere while they are moaning about whatever nonsense.

Guess she did care about the safety of the universe. Gosh she had to be such a bleeding heart.

Letting out a huff of air, she didn't even bother looking at the other two currently at the table, "or until they pay their taxes we could reduce magical utilities, just a simple suggestion from those of us in the room not throwing a temper tantrum."

"It's not a temper tantrum Hekapoo. This is righteous fury. We provide protection and we deserve our compensation." his arms, two snakes hissed as he stood up.

With a twirl of her hand she summoned her chosen weapon when dealing with her fellow commission member. A jet black squirt bottle.

"No bad Rhombulus." she squeezed.

He gave a cry, "no fair."

True what came out was hot molten magma but between the three strongest in the cosmos, it worked well as a squirt bottle.

He sat down, looking like he was going to cry.

There were some steps and the room turned their heads to the door. There was no one penciled in at this time.

In anything it was probably 'the new great evil' or 'neo dark overlord' or whatever the next great tyrannical want to be called themselves.

Seriously it was mostly a weekly event. Anyone with an ego and half a spark of magic would eventually try to make a pass at the commission like they were so cool or whatever.

This guy was probably not going to last long. Hekapoo could barely feel a hint of magical energy.

There was a click and the door creaked.

Standing there was- of course she could rewrite the laws of reality but the universe can still hate her as much as it"ll like.

"Who dares stands in front of the universal magic high-"

"Shut up" Hekapoo squirted the bottle once more before the one eye man could stand up, "go stand in the corner."

"But I didn't do anything this time." the man whined back.

She bared her fangs at him, "Go stand in the time out corner Rhombulus or so help me I'll rip a tear in time and space and erase any possibility of you ever having been born."

"This is so unfair." yep, he was definitely crying now. At least he did what he was told.

She gave a glance to the goat, "You too Lekmet."

The winged mammal spared her a look before shrugging and standing into a corner in the back of the room, though a different one then where Rhombulus was.

"Who told you to come to where I work?" she stood in front of Marco and spoke quietly so that'll only he would hear.

He swallowed and looked at Rhobulus, at Lekmet, both in their respective corners before setting his eyes back at Hekapoo. He spoke just as softly, "You said I could visit you anytime I wanted."

"I said" she began to yell. She looked behind her to the other members of the high commission and coughed. Looking back to Diaz, she readjusted her volume, "I said you could visit me at my swamp. I didn't think you needed glasses but clearly you do cause last time I checked this might be a craphole but it is not a swamp."

"It's just," he couldn't look her in the eye, "I couldn't. Just couldn't. Way too many memories. That whole dimension reminds me of way too many things."

"Save it." Hekapoo took her hands and pinched the bridge of her nose, "it's not like i was actually expecting you to ever show up anyway after we last talked."

She stepped away, "In fact It's probably best if I revoke that whole visiting privilege I gave you."

"You can't do that." he followed her. "You said I could visit you, you come to my house and now you don't want me to see you?"

"This whole arrangement we had if you can even call it that," she brought the flat of her hand and crossed in front of her throat, "It's not working out."

"So just like that?" he frowned. Before he looked shock about what she was saying but now Marco was genuinely crossed, "You're leaving me just like that."

She pointed at his neck, "You're the one who left."

Throwing her arms, she uttered, "I'm just following your lead. Now you don't have to visit me since it's 'so difficult.'"

"You can't." he yelled, "What about-"

He almost said 'us', but Marco guessed that with this rant that she was basically telling him that whatever time they share what ever bond they had whatever someone could call it, it didn't matter.

"What about Nacho?" he asked, "So you're saying I can't visit her?"

"What?" her eyes widen, "If that's all you care about I can dump that dumb lizard back to your little toxic rock."

There was a knock on the door.

"Don't call her dumb," the boy shouted, "she apparently cared a whole lot more about me then you did."

Another knock was heard.

Hekapoo laughed, "She just loved that you gave her food. She forgot about you the moment it was lunch time and I was the only one to feed her."

And another knock.

"I wouldn't even be here if you would just leave me alone. Every time I keep on just living my life, you have to come and complicate it."

Two knocks.

"Well I'm telling you that you can just go back to your stupid existence."

Three more.

"Fantastic, I would love nothing more."

The door went quiet for a moment.

"Excuse me," there was a soft feminine voice, "This isn't a bad time is it?"

The door squeaked and there was a girl with long green hair and a pink striped shirt, "Hey Hekapoo."

The green hair girl looked at Marco and her eyes widen, "Hey Marco."

The demon and teen looked at each other and stepped away from each other. They had the decency to looked embarrassed but both tried to remain neutral in front of the girl.

"Hey Kelly," Marco spoke.

So did Hekapoo, "Sup."

Suddenly some of the girl's hair shook and a male voice rang out, "Hey Marco, how you're doing Hekapoo?"

"Sup Tad."

"How you're doing Tad."

Kelly coughed.

Marco coughed.

Hekapoo coughed.

Tad didn't cough, he was a pretty chill dude and the atmosphere of the room didn't really bother him.

"So, I know this is sudden," the green haired girl spoke, "I know this is really short notice but there's a family emergency with my grandmother."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Marco eyes widen.

"Oh, it's fine." Kelly shushed, "She just had a slight scare. Everyone's going down to make sure she's fine."

She started to giggle, "Honestly I'm more scared for Tad. My dad's not the biggest fan of his."

Kelly's hair murmured, "What? I don't know babe. Pretty sure the guy loves me."

She stuck out her tongue, "You think everyone loves you."

"I'm a very loveable guy."

"I know." the girl blushed. She turned around revealing a red bundle which she brought to her chest, "So Hekapoo, I'm gonna have to return this to you."

Hekapoo hurried forward and Marco didn't know how someone can move so fast while still having a sort of gentleness to them.

"What is that," he spoke, "Is that my hoodie?"

"No it isn't." as she walked by him she kept her back to him, "And if it was, what does it mattered?"

A small cry was heard, "What is that?"

"It's nothing." the demoness spoke. It was amazing to him how she could speak so softly while sounding absolutely panicked.

The cry was louder and Hekapoo stopped her pacing to bounce and soothe the red bundle.

Marco stared and tried to looked over her shoulders, "Is that-"

He saw a glimpse of a tuft of brown hair, "Is that?"

"Is that a baby?" Standing up from his corner was the crystal warlock Rhombulus who roared, "I love babies."

He practically ran over to see the small humanoid wrapped in red. Whatever being was there in returned stopped it's tantrum to stare back at the single crystal eye of the mage.

Hekapoo tried to kick him away, "Later, you can see her later."

She repeated again and again but he seem to ignore her displays of physical violence in order to play with the spawn.

"She has brown hair"

Hekapoo put her foot down slowly and Rhomlubus back away feeling tension in the air.

"Hey I returned your baby back to you, so I'm gonna just head out." Kelly was already out the door and she continued to speak as her footsteps could be heard descending the staircase.

Marco looked at the baby. It did have brown hair and it shared a tone of skin not with Hekapoo but with Marco's own mother, "And she has your eyes."

Hekapoo nodded. She also had the woman's horns and the beginnings of a fang if he guessed correctly.

"Is this?" he started but he wasn't sure if it was appropriate for him to ask.

"Yes" her voice shook, "This is your daughter."


	2. Chapter 2

"My daughter?" That made a lot of sense now that he thought about it. Marco could already see his mother in the infant. He saw so much of Hekapoo in her. Even if he could deny the fiery orange eyes like the demoness or the beauty mark that matched his, wrapped around her was a stitched together keepsake that he recognized. It was his hoodie, the one he wore for sixteen years, repurposed for a toddler's blanket.

No he was wrong, that didn't make any sense at all. That couldn't be his kid, "But how?"

"I don't think I have to give you instructions" she choked out a laugh. "At least not again."

Looking Hekapoo in the eye, she caught a glance from his pupil before looking away.

Marco continued, "Hekapoo that was only a month ago."

"Maybe demons give birth quickly." despite herself, Hekapoo let out a small giggle and began to rock the child in her arms.

The boy blinked, contemplating how different the biology between the were. The mother rolled her eyes and began to rock her baby, "You spent a decade and half in under the time it takes to bake a microwave dinner. You think I couldn't cook up a little nursing dimension for myself?"

She looked down as she rocked the baby in her arms, "Couple minutes everywhere else in the universe, the timer was done and this little bun was out of the oven."

"Nursing dimension" His jaw locked and he squinted his brow.

"Why?" he opened up his arms. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Diaz stepped forward until he was face to face with her. "I could've been there."

Over her shoulder a large crystal attached to a scale torso hovered above. "Hekapoo, you do know that the commission helps their members in-"

"You don't even start." She shouted and pointed a finger to the back of the room. "Back to the corner."

"Hekapoo. Please I want to help, after all we're friends aren't we? "

"Corner. Now"

The large man nodded his head and for once he walked back to his domain not with anger nor sadness but he he walked back to the corner all the same.

Hekapoo sighed and stood as straight as she could while still holding the bundle of joy, "Okay so you see me here. And you see this rugrat. What are you planning on doing?"

"Well I want to take care of you." he held his wrist and rubbed it. "I mean you and her."

"Playing cool as always." she gave a smile that didn't reach her eyes and held the baby closer to herself. "Maybe that's why I didn't want you to find out."

She faced away from him and stepped away, "This isn't something anyone just wants dropped on them and I know you well enough to see this coming, like a galaxy away."

She bounced around the baby. "There's a big difference between seeing someone because you want to and because you have to."

Leaning forward Marco spoke. "Well I want to. She's my daughter. She's my responsibility."

Hekapoo shook her head "Just relax. I'm not some single mom on your backwater world who needs the support."

She twirled around to face him before stepping to the side. As she walked she left behind an image of herself which stood it's ground. It came to life, breathing and moving its body separately from her.

Hekapoo handed the baby to her copy, "I can handle it on my own."

Suddenly she disappeared like smoke, leaving behind who Marco believed was the clone.

"Look at it this way." the real Hekapoo spoke. "I am over a millennium old and when this little one-"

She cooed at the small lady. "-is all grown up and can take care of herself, I will still be over a millennium old."

She breathed. "Where will you be? In your thirties? Forties? An old man halfway done with your short life. What will you have done while caring for her against what you will have to give up?"

"Hekapoo." he thought for a moment. What would he do. Would he have to drop out of school? Marco guess that in most situations that would be the answer but this wasn't most situations.

He didn't get a girl at his school pregnant. Hekapoo was a grown woman. With an important job. One that he believe based on the evidence, paid well.

"This is my fault. I'm the adult here." she tried to reassure him.

"But I'm thirty." a weak argument with a predictable retort.

"You aren't exactly looking like it." she eyed him back and forth.

"But I have those years. I'm an adult. I'm responsible."

"Every flesh bag your age would say the same thing, about how mature they are."

Marco had to admit that he wasn't sure if he could take care of a child. His experience began and ended at tadpoles. He was sure if he what he could and couldn't do. He could get his daughter to sleep he guessed.

Wait, no he couldn't even do that. The instructions that Buff Frog gave him when he babysat was specially made for the monster's own kids.

The steps for putting squishy roundish amphibians didn't apply to a humanoid baby. He would have to know something about her and he didn't know anything. He hadn't even known she existed until a few moments ago.

"I can't try?" his voice was only a whisper. "Even if I can't do anything, can't I at least get to know her."

The demoness frowned, "Why are you so persistent?"

Marco laughed, "H-poo, I don't know how you can have me chase you for sixteen years and you're still surprise that I won't give up."

Hekapoo opened her mouth but the boy spoke again. "What is her name?"

"Minerva."

"Hiya Minnie." he tried to make his voice high pitched; something which sounded excited and child friendly. He wanted to hold the child but as he held his arms out her mother lifted the baby out of his reach.

"No" She stabbed her fingers at his chest, stopping his advance. "Listen Marco. You were probably right before. I was playing with you. It was just good fun on my end but for you must feel like you're starting all over again. Missing your dragon, your sword and well, can't really go into detail about your looks in front of Min."

Her voice stopped as she looked at the distance and smiled as if she was remembering the night that resulted in Minnie. Her smile slowly faded and she continued. "And I am sorry about that, but that's all it was for me. Playing. I tried to fix it. Gave you back your time and Minerva, I thought that maybe what you never knew couldn't hurt you."

Her next words seemed to echo to him. "-because Marco, we can't be what you think we need to."

There was a period of silence in the air. The teen boy opened this mouth and then closed them. He took a step forward and then back again and when it seemed that he was ready to speak again the only voice heard was Hekapoo's.

"We're aren't going to end up together. It's impossible. If you really want to do the whole family man shtick, you'll have to find someone else."

Marco swallowed saliva that he had become strangely conscious to. "Hekapoo, but-"

She interrupted. "The time we spent together was great, but I have had a lot of boyfriends before. Maybe a few who were like you. Thought we had something special. They all disappeared in the end. They moved on and I let them."

"Was it just like this?" Was this just a thing that she did. Did she steal away men, challenging to them to some trial only like some fairy tale? "How many kids do you have?"

"Only this little one. This is different. I was reckless. I must've been brain dead that day."

"So you had a lot of guys who loved you, and okay maybe you know what happens then. Maybe I would've forgotten you. "I kind of thought that maybe that is what you wanted me to do. I'm not too sure now. You said that was the plan but he plan has changed. This isn't your usual affair. She changed things."

"Maybe she has," she faltered. "But I don't know if that exactly means that you have to spent your life watching over her. It doesn't exactly make any sense."

"Sense? I'm standing in front of my daughter who I just met for the first time after her mom told me she gave birth to her in a month. I've kind of given up on making sense of things." he shook his head. "What I do know is that I'm not leaving here knowing that I'll never see her again."

"You know I could run away again." she pondered out loud. "Make more clones then you can count. Twice as many as last time. Third times, four. Enough that you'll never hope of finding me."

Marco smiled with confidence. "Doesn't matter. Last time I was just trying to find a pair of scissors. This time I'll be chasing after something a little bit more important."

"And when you're thirty again and she's sixteen. What will you do?" she looked down at her daughter and then the baby's dad. "She'll be old enough that it won't matter."

"Maybe she will be but I'll hope that she'll be happy to see me. I'll be happy to see her." She looked at Minnie and the baby giggled and drown as she looked back. Marco gaze moved up to meet Hekapoo's.

"Besides. You say you're doing this so I don't waste my life. Would you rather I spent that time looking for her? Or would you rather I spend that time with her?"

"Oh glob." who thought that running down the stairs could leave you so exhausted. You would figure it be a cake walk. Gravity was doing most of the work at that point. Kelly's heart however was on fire when she got down to the lobby.

Didn't help when she then proceeded to race past the front desk, magic detector, front door and the moose who manned them all, slipping to the side of the building. She leaned against the wall and curled her legs towards herself so that she could sit comfortably on the space between the building and the edge of the land island, "Did you see that?"

She pulled her hair in shock, "Tad, do you know what this means?"

"Ya" her hair spoke back to her. "Pretty cool that Hekapoo and Marco hang out."

"No no no. It's isn't that. I mean I guess they must've at least once-" she considered. "-but he said that baby has brown hair."

"I could've told you that. We spent a couple hours with her."

"No I mean-" she started. "You only-"

She wasn't sure if she should've spoke considering the cans of worms her words could open. She had to tell everyone.

No no, she had to tell no one. This wasn't something that she mess with. This was none of her business, plus she completely hated drama. The thing was that Star's boyfriend apparently got another girl pregnant. "I really don't want to get involved but I think as Star's friend I should really say something."

She slowly slid against the wall, falling onto her side. She ignore a grunt from her green bush of a boyfriend as his body hit the floor, "What should I do?"

Why did she have to be the one to decide? Anyone else would've been way better in this situation. If Pony Head was there she would've known exactly what should've been done. She was Star's best friend after all.

She pulled out a compact mirror and both her hands held onto it with the tips of her fingers, "Maybe I should tell her. She'd know what to do"

She turned her head and muttered into the grass and dirt. Pony Head would know what to do but that would still mean that Kelly would have to tell her everything she saw.

"This is going to be so hard to explain."

Why did Hekapoo ask her of all people to babysit? This wasn't a stray thought. This was something that she straight out asked the woman.

Hekapoo could make an army in seconds. She usually used it as a party trick but a snap of her fingers wnd boom, instant babysitter.

Her words? Something along the lines of 'Don't want the kid to get sick of me so too soon', that her daughter needed to get to know different people at her age

It made sense even though Kelly wasn't sure if she was the best role model. She didn't really have experience with babies. She hid in her hair for the first hour that she had with the infant which made the whole thing more difficult than it needed to be. She wasn't even one hundred percent sure that the girl had developed object permanence quite yet. Would explain the crying besides for the obvious absence of her mother.

From little Minerva's view her mom left her with some strange lady only for that lady to then disappear leaving a green bush behind.

Her thumb unconsciously opened up the compact and before Kelly knew it there a familiar and extended "hey," from the mirror.

Kelly let out a whine, her mouth was against the grass and dirt, making her hard to understand.

"Hey Kelly what's up girl." the disembodied horse had spoke. She made a groan and a moan. "Excuse me can you move my mirror a bit for me?"

Suddenly the view of the mirror moved out a bit. More of Pony Head could be seen and soon she saw too deer looking woman standing by her. She was hovering over a reclining chair and Kelly could see that where the floating head was that there were a lot of towels.

One of the goat woman were holding a nail file which she graced against Pony's horn. "Sorry bout that girl, I'm having myself a little spa day. You know that this whole running Saint O's thing is really stressful."

She relaxed as the deer woman went to work, closing her eyes. "Anyway what can I do for you girl?"

Kelly laid there, face first into the grass and dirt and whined.

"Babysitting for Hekapoo?" one eye opened. She must be a nightmare to work for girl. Bet she's holding in all that energy since she can't mess with people in the Bounce Lodge no more."

A wet towel were brought up by one of the deers and as stream flew off it they laid it onto Pony Head who gave a relaxed sigh. "I don't know how you could accept that. Remember that she did to that one guy who was trying to mess with her. I swear I'm still having nightmares."

Kelly could feel her friend rolling her eyes from behind the towel. "And ya, I know that I was the one who actually pushed him into the portal but you don't just threaten to trap someone in a nightmare dimension."

Pony paused. "But man. She has a kid? I feel bad for whoever her hubby is."

Kelly whined once again.

The towel slipped off as the horse head brought herself up straight. "Wait. You didn't just say what I think you just said, did you?"

Kelly muttered into the dirt.

"That was rhetorical. My ears are like perfect." Pony Head beamed with pride. "But man, who would've thought that old earth turd had the nerve."

Kelly turned her head, removing her lips from the obstruction, "I normally wouldn't tell this to anyone, but shouldn't we tell Star? After all he is her boyfriend."

"What?" Pony reeled back. She stared Kelly right in the eye.

Kelly stared back.

And PH bursted out laughing. "That guy dating Star? Man that's a good one Kelly. Girl, my lungs wouldn't be able to handle this if I had any."

"Wait they're not?"

"No my girl. Stars way too cool for that guy." Pony looked up and concentrated. "but now that I think of it he is dating someone I think. Star mentioned it to me."

She squinted her eyes. "Think I met the girl too. Man she was pretty chill. Can't believe that guy would do this to her."

She gave a grin to her green haired friend. "Girl since you trusted me with this I'll make sure it's put to good use. Gonna make sure everyone knows about this."

Kelly gave a gasped, opening her mouth. "Wait Pony-"

"Don't worry I'll leave your name out of it. That guy's gonna see what's happens when you mess with a girl, y'know?" She gave a firece smile.

"Really Pony I really don't thi-" Kelly's words threatened to overlap each other.

"Later hun."

There was a click and her mirror became just a mirror. Kelly stared at the compact and her reflection was what stared back with the same shocked expression that she wore.

"Oh no."

Marco stepped into his room looked around and let out a deep breath.

He looked around. Wondering if anyone had wondered where was. He never went anywhere without telling someone. At the very least he tried not to.

It was a habit that he admittedly started to neglect ever since he met Star. As she tended to go where she pleased and as long as both of them was gone at the same time then his parents knew that the both of them were safe.

He checked the outside of his room and even walked to the top of the steps and looked down. When he saw no one, he figured that there must've not have been a panic. That he got away with it and that no one notice that he was gone or maybe if they did, they just trusted that he'll old enough that he'll be okay.

He let out a breath.

Walking back to his room, he brought his door gently to a close and stalked towards his laptop which laid open as it usual did on his desk.

Out of his pocket, his hand pulled out a small rectangle object. Something that when he first saw, he couldn't help but mentally describe it as what a usb would look like if some one let some rock candy melt onto the plug.

It was a strange yellow color, something Egyptian themed with a blue light on the side and a large blue crystal poking out of one end.

He place it flat next to his laptop and position it carefully. If he remember the instructions as Hekapoo have told him then he'll just have to log on.

He entered in his password. One that he had set up about a month ago and allow the computer to load up the desktop.

The device came to life. The crystal on it's tip started to glow. First as a fickle but soon with the intensity of a small light bulb. The light started to escape the mineral and shoot towards Marco's laptop. The beam hit the computer's usb port.

A message popped onto the screen.

Would you like to use this unit as storage?

He pressed 'okay'.

He clicked his mouse once then slid it and clicked again.

What popped up was Minnie.

It was actually a kind of old fashioned picture. A naked baby butt on a carpet. A pet near her. The pet in this case being a familiar dragon cycle. She had a while nearly toothless smile as she reached for Nacho's snout.

His old friend looked like she didn't know what to make of the tiny demon.

He had a week. More like five or six days depended on how you counted them.

He had that time to explain to his folks and his friends about his situation.

Star was the only one who knew about him being gone for sixteen years.

About him being gone for eight minutes.

At the time it wasn't really a big deal to Star and he didn't really feel up to talking about it so neither one of them mentioned it to anyone.

Now suddenly he'll have to tell everyone everything before that weekend.

Hekapoo was going to drop off his daughter friday after school.


	3. Chapter 3

It was Sunday and Janna was bored.

She was bored yesterday also, but she had occupied time with completing her homework. It wasn't like she was looking forward to the assignments but it was there cluttering her backpack. So why not do it? Now that it was done with she had no activities planned for sunday afternoon.

Jackie had of course waited until then to do her report or as Janna knew Jackie waited until Sunday to start procrastinate her report. Her blonde friend would very likely start writing the actual essay on her phone during first period so that she could hand it in during sixth.

If this had been earlier in the year then Janna would've considered asking one of her back up pals and that would've proved to be just as fruitless.

Hope was adorable and could actually have some pretty great ideas every now and then. Some of them pretty sneaky which always surprised Janna considering how timid the girl often was. The downside was that she usually played it safer than Janna liked. The best course of action was to have someone to help bring her out of her shell. Peer pressure was the key and without it there was a great chance that Hope would actually have rein of her instead of the otherway around. She actually was good with words and manipulation. She could prove a dangerous foe if she ever gained the self confidence to utilize her innate talent. Janna however didn't feel like a quiet afternoon, like Hope would want and so she'll have to pass on hanging with her for the day.

After that she would have to start digging. Leah was nice enough but the diagnosis was the same as with Hope. Quiet girl who only ever had fun when she was pressed into. Through to be honest she was worst cause she wasn't quite as clever as Hope was. Blake was a guy who had wasn't afraid of having a good time. On the flip side however the dude was more Jackie's friend then he was Janna's, meaning that she didn't have any leverage on him if things went south. Detention club? First rule of detention club is that you don't talk about detention club.

Second rule of detention club?

Second verse same was the first.

Marco? Meh pass.

That is normally where Janna would be out of options and be resign to what would feel like a lifetime of boredom. Normally this is when the residents of Echo Creek or as she liked to call them, the common folk would rush into a panic at whatever cruel fate that she would no doubt had in mind for them as a result of how the dullness affected her mind.

That what would have normally been the case however that status quo died a bit more than two months ago.

Janna had made a new friend and with that a whole new world opened up to her. Well to be literal an infinite number of worlds opened up to her.

Star Butterfly, magical girl exchange student was a really cool chick. Not just because of the wand and the powers, but her attitude was something that Janna could get behind. Some might've found that strange cause perky wasn't something that Janna didn't seem to do unless things were going south for someone. Jackie, her best friend, the girl she would usually hang with wasn't perky. She had a lot of energy but when she wasn't on her board or on a jog the girl was as a sloth. An attribute Janna shared with her. With Hope, yes she was nice but she wasn't really perky. She would often a positive thought every now and again or even offer favors for those around her, but she wasn't perky.

Star was perky and Janna was just fine with that. Maybe because while in most cases she would connect perky with fake and Janna didn't think that it was at all possible for the princess to tell a lie let alone fake her emotions nor motivations.

When she saw something, she did it and put one hundred percent into it until something else caught her eye and you know what? Janna could get behind that.

When she wasn't having a scheme of her own, Star was absolutely fine with taking suggestions in chaos from Janna or whoever else she knew. The wand bearer was down for anything. She was strangely like Jackie in that way.

That similarity was also something Janna could get behind.

If Janna suggested trying to summon the dead with a ouija board, Star did it even though she could probably summon the actual dead with a flick of her wrist and then she would love it.

In fact Janna found it awesome that a girl with all of Star's powers would still be down for the things she liked. Made her feel a bit more like a real spellcaster.

Yes, Janna could never call Star boring even if chilling was the only thing they were doing. Janna could find something to distract herself with.

In this case Janna chose betting her allowance on construct fight club. She allow herself to relax with her legs sprawled out in front of her as the entertainment fought, other constructs placing bets and cheering their pick and jeering the other contestant. The only other humanoid person or real person depending on how you consider the legitimacy of life that came from Star's spells was Star Butterfly herself who instead of the wad of bills that Janna had clutch in her hand, had some gold coins piled in front of her in a similar fashion that someone would stack poker chips.

The match up for the evening?

Living gelatin cube vs lion head on a wheel.

"Be ready to lose big, princess." Janna spoke just loud enough that Star could hear over the rest of the crowd considering of beings from the interdimensional girl's imagination.

"I think we should let the boys do the talking." a sly smile grew and the blonde nudged her head in the direction of the fight.

The lion wheel took a lap once around the jelly square. It's singular head never allowing the squishy shape out of it's sight. It glared at the gem monster before it drove towards the dead center of it and then never left the center of it. It was struck. "Woah woah woah, what's going on."

The lion wheel spoke in a relatively normal voice before it started to dissolve. The cube forced more of the head's being into itself as it devolved it. Something that even Janna would've found disturbing if the dematerialization didn't result in pink n' blue sparkles and confetti.

"What a rip off" the bills that were in Janna's hands found themselves flying at Star's face.

The victor of the bet only responded by pumping two fist in the air letting out a 'woohoo' as she shot up from the floor. She gave a twirl which brought a smile to Janna's face, before doing a small victory dance. "S Butterfly wins again."

However the jig started to turn more into a bouncing motion, "time to take a victory lap over to the ladies room."

"Hurry back. Got to get my cash back. I'm saving up to buy a fiefdom." Star was already out the door and Janna laid content amongst the constructs who were preoccupied with the bets they have made with each other.

There was a vibration.

Janna eyebrow raised and the drop. Whatever that was, someone else will deal with it.

Then there was another buzz. She could guess where it was coming from this time. Somewhere over near Star's bed, probably her bedside table.

That was pretty far away and she couldn't reach. She tried, sticking her arms in a ineffectual manner towards the other side of the room. Nope Janna has not gain super streching from the looks of it. Guess whatever that noise is, it'll have to go unconfronted.

There was a third vibration and that was the camel that broke the camel's back. Janna shot her head back and whine. Guess she'll have to see what that is.

Janna scooted her back up the wall, kicking her feet of the floor until she was standing straight up. Soon she was in front of the source of the noise.

It was a little compact mirror. It was buzzing so hard that she actually saw it slowly inch towards the edge. Trust Star to have the magical version of a cell phone. It was like in one of those saturday morning shows that take place in ancient times. You know the ones where the creators want to create use a cool setting but are also afraid that kids won't relate unless they have the same tech. Like where we are in ancient Greece, I'm gonna send a tweet over to Sparta, then some ancient mythological hero proceed to tie a message to an owl or whatever's leg before throwing it miles over to the city. It was adorable.

It almost as if that giant mirror she had against the wall was for show more than anything.

She flip the compact in her palm and pushed it open with her thumb. "Hey, you're that Janna chick, right?"

Not like Janna was going to wonder who this was. She only knew exactly one dismembered unicorn. A shame, she should really network more. "Hey Pony Head. Star's over in the bathroom. Answering the call of nature."

The floating head made a noise that was the mixer of a grunt and whine. "Well she shouldn't be answering nature's call. She should be answering mine."

"No I mean she's-" Janna raised one eyebrow. "y'know doing the thing that everyone does while in the bathroom."

The unicorn stared forward before blinking. "Taking a bath?"

"No I mean the other thing?" Janna waved as if she was metaphorically clearing the air of the idea.

Pony head blinked once more. "What other thing?"

"You know." Janna lead on. She for a moment wondered if maybe Mewni didn't have indoor plumbing but if Pony Head need what a bathtub was, then she should know what a toilet was or at least the magical equivalent of one.

"Know what?"

"Releasing water."

Pony Head stared at the beanie wearing teen from the mirror which a confused expression on her face.

Janna stared back.

"Do you mean like from a cup or a bottle?"

"Are you telling me that you don't-" Janna started before clamping down her mouth and staring at the horse's lack of certain organs. "But I've seen you drink? How does your body even work?"

"Okay" Pony Head started slowly, extending her words. "So like when Star's done playing with the sink or whatever. Could you like tell her I called. I wanted to tell her this first but like I got a whole list of people that I got to spread this to."

"Will do."

"Actually wait." Pony spoke before Janna could close the mirror. "You're pretty tight with that Jackie chick right?"

Janna twitched hearing her friend's name. Some people would call it a flinch, but Janna would insist that it was a twitch. "I might be."

"Well I think you got to tell her something." Her face got close to the mirror, leaving Janna with a feeling that if they were face to face that the floating head would leave her with little personal space. "So I hear from one of my sources-"

The pony trailed the word as if she was testing it out, wondering if maybe another was a better choice. "-that, well you know Marco?"

The corner of Janna's lip went back as she fought a smirk. She considered answering sarcastically. Something like 'Marco, Marco who? That name doesn't ring a bell'.

"I believe that I am standing in his house, so yes." She might as well make this go quick. Janna didn't see what kind of dirt that the otherworldly resident could have on the guy that she didn't.

Thing is the guy was pretty freaking clean which was boring and while Marco was normally scared by her scheming. The truth of the matter was that his overall blandest usual lead to disappointing searches through his privacy. Her hunts left her very little for her to fire at him other than the occasional teasing.

No one cares if you like space unicorns Marco, she wouldn't' even bother bringing it up if he didn't freak over things like that.

Pony Head lowered her voice in a stage whispered as in her voice was not at all softer than it was before. It was probably louder actual, probably meant for anyone around her to 'overhear'. "So like here's the deal-"

She told her and Janna almost eternal smirk faded completely.

"-so you gotta tell your girl. She has to know."

She opened her mouth a bit more then her words required her to."Ya, I will."

"And Star too. You have to tell Star."

Pony Head could tell Star herself if she waited a couple seconds if the footsteps that she heard down the hall were any indication. That meant she had to hurry this up. "Ya, I'll totally do that. You should go y'know spread that news a round. I'll handle everything around here."

"You know I will. Later gi-"

Janna snapped the compact close just as the door opened back up.

"I'm back." Star sang. From the utter relief in her voice, Janna could tell that it was a trip well needed.

Janna pocketed the mirror into her back pocket. She walked side to side with Star as the two returned to the betting circle. The constructs in the crowd waiting on their creator to proof into existence two more tiny gladiators. "Easy there, you make it show like you were gone for five years instead of five minutes."

Star gave a small laugh. "Well things like that happen sometimes."

Janna pulled out a couple of bills before the two sat back down. Janna on her behind and Star on her knees. "Hey Star. Where's Diaz. He doesn't want to get in on this?"

"Nah, he's hanging over with his buds."

"huh?" Janna for once actually had no idea what Star was talking about. Marco with friends? Did something slip by her time proven methods of information gathering.

"You know Fergerson and Alphonso."

"Oh those two." Okay so it seemed that something didn't slip through but instead slip under. She didn't really think they counted as an important development. "Didn't even think he still hung with those guys."

Star leaned towards Jenna. She had a huge smile on her face. "So why the sudden interesting in Marco."

"Just like to keep track of my playthings."

Star's brow bounced up and down. "Really?"

"Yup." Never had there mean a more uncaring expression.

The magical girl released a groan as she deflated. She allowed her body to topple over and her head to fall in her friend's lap. "Oh come on Jenna."

"You can't fool a Butterfly. We know everything." she deepened her voice and pumped her fist. "It's in our blood."

Jenna chuckled as she placed her hand on her friend's shoulder and relaxed her back against the wall. "Me fool you? Wouldn't imagine it."

"So you're saying that you don't have a crush on Marco."

What? Janna had a fickle of a frown that she tried to hide. Please Star, he wasn't you.

The teen had no idea where this idea that she had a crush on Diaz came from but it was something that she had to push against ever since she taught the guy how to pick a lock back in junior high. Of course Jackie was the one who first suggested it. Fortunately she didn't think that the rumor would proliferate at that time otherwise she would've deck the skateboarder.

No that was a lie, she wouldn't have.

She probably would've acted the exact same way whether or not she had known that people would have thought that she had a crush on the guy. She would've tried to play it cool.

She would've still have blushed and Jackie would've still had used that as proof of her educated guess.

Either way Jackie wouldn't have realized that Janna wasn't blushing because of someone as plain as Marco Diaz.

He wasn't her type. She much preferred blondes.

The teen sighed and flipped her friend over, allowing her to relax the back of her head on top of her lap. She moved a strand of hair back. Star stuck out her tongue and Janna brushed her hand against Star's scalp. "No way Butterfly. I could do way better."

Turns out that he hasn't really hung out with Fergerson and Alphonso in a while. From his perspective while had he had taken a month in order to make up for lost time with all his friends, he still saw his activities as reuniting with people he hasn't seen in a decade and a half, but in this case they also agreed that they haven't seen Marco in what they feel is forever.

To be honest he didn't actually remember their faces too much. In fact he was sure that he walked by them a couple of times last week without saying anything.

In fact when the front door open and Marco asked for Fergerson only for the chubby guy his age to reveal that he was Fergerson, Marco's friend reassured him that there was no offense felt on his end or maybe the guy just thought that Marco was being funny. The red hood wearing boy was afraid to ask for clarification.

So when Marco stepped into the guy's room, he was only equipped with stray memories of the two. Some from when they were in grade school, some in middle school and a stray memory in high school, maybe a couple months ago in this dimension of himself trying to force feed Ferg a whistle for some reason he could no longer remember.

There sitting on the guy's bed was Alphonso. He wasn't one hundred percent sure. He had to be. Marco didn't remember hanging out with a third person so this had to be him.

The guy shot him with a look of surprise but offered with a nervous smile which Diaz exchanged with one of his own. Since he was giving away free smiles he turned to Fergerson and gave him his share of the awkward grin.

Marco smiled.

Fergerson smiled.

Alphonso smiled.

Perfect, all three of these guys had no idea what the hell they were suppose to do.

Maybe it would be better if Marco took a moment to jump out the window and walk away, never to come back.

Alphonso thumbed the boomerang shaped object in his hand. The one with a long cord that went to the tv stationed a inches away from the foot of the bed.

"Hey dude, whatcha playing?"

That didn't start any major conversation. It didn't really need to. Marco's goal was more to take attention away from how tense the room seemed.

It worked and soon they were playing some cheap go karting rip off that Fergerson swore was better then then the main steam one for whatever whatever reasons that were important to him. Normally Marco would be complaining not because it was awful but because he wasn't playing well.

He had trouble holding the controller. It felt awkward in his hand and the concept of pressing buttons escaped him. It wasn't like he didn't remember playing video games. In his memories the actions were automatic.

It didn't really bother him. He doubted that if he was in a tranquil state of mind that he would do well and currently his mind was storming. It wasn't like he could've cleared his throat and tell them 'Hey I got a baby. K it was nice seeing you guys.'

What he said wasn't any less out of the blue mind you. "Hey. You guys ever thought of having kids?".

Ya smooth Marco.

"Nah man." There was a roaring laugh. The chubbier of his two friends opened his mouth. "But you know there are some ladies at school I wouldn't mind practicing with."

He waggled his eyebrow and Marco got the sinking feeling that he probably remembered the reason he didn't hang out with his old friends anymore.

The kid looked back at him and frowned. "Hey man, don't look at me like that."

He raised one hand and scratched the back of his neck. The boy tried to focus his attention back to the screen. "I don't really think of stuff like that."

He place his hand back on the controller. His kart on screen started up again but if anyone look at his avatar they would notice a couple driving mistakes they he weren't making before. "Why you're asking man?"

His other friend Alphonso spoke. The kid's words sounded like bubbles if that made any sense and from what Marco could understand his statement was something like "Maybe he and Jackie were planning on sealing the deal."

"Really man? Gonna get married right after school? I suggest waiting a few years before you go down any aisles."

"Hey wait. I'm not-" Marco wanted to go on the defend himself but as he thought about it. Dating during high school, getting married at eighteen sounded like something old fashioned and was probably not smart in this day and age but was a lot better of a situation then his current reality was.

"Nah just um, wondering." he wasn't even trying to play the game anymore. He held down the acceleration but his cart swayed left and right down the virtual road. "I mean what would you even do?"

There was a smile and his bubble speaking friend spoke.

Marco gave a small chuckle in return. "I think having that many kids would be hard Al."

There was another grumble of words.

Fergerson elbowed his buddy softly "Well if you think you could handle it, who are we to stop you?"

There was a elongated grumble that Alphonso's two friends somehow understood.

"Ya man I wouldn't doubt that you'll love every single one of them." Marco gave him a small smile.

Fergerson abandoned his controller to his lap for a moment. He turned to Al and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Guy is a real prince, bro."

"Ferg?"

The guy immediately went back to playing the game. He was in first place and wanted to defend his claim to fame after all. He wasn't much a challenge though considering they weren't playing any AIs and both Al and Marco weren't paying attention.

"Hey Ferg, what about you?"

His friend moved his body in synch with the cart on screen first to the left and then the right. Not that he had to but it seemed to be into it. "Oh um. I told you that I never really thought of it."

Marco nodded "I get that. If you were to think about it now?"

Fergerson gave a side glance to Marco. His mouth was formed into a slight frown. He gripped the controller and released a deep sigh. "I mean- I don't really know."

"I don't really think I'd be too good at it." he let go of the controller. His shoulders rose high as one arm held the other. "Cause you know man."

Marco didn't know. Fergerson was trying to remind him of something but honestly all he could do was give confused glances at his two companions.

"Fergerson sweetie!" there was a young woman's voice from down the hall.

Fergerson gave Marco one look and walked pass him to the door. He stuck his neck out of the hallway "Ya mom?"

"I'm going to be a bit busy tonight. I left you dinner in the fridge. Heat it up; three five O for thirty minutes."

"Got it."

Fergerson stepped back and closed his room door. He turned around and looked at both of his friends "Hey dudes. I don't know if you guys are busy but hey do you guys wanna stay over for dinner. It's kinda of a pain to heat all that stuff up for just me."

He walked by them. He picked up his controller before reclaiming his seat on his bed. "and man, if I had to try. Like your dad is cool. Maybe I'd do what he did."

"My dad isn't that cool." Marco tried to downplay. He believed that he remember a key fact about the red head.

"One of the best two that I know." he nudged Alphonso, who in return smiled sheepishly.

Marco didn't tell his friends anything that day. He ate some pasta at Fergerson's and went home later. He couldn't however say that it was a waste. He had reconnected to an extent with his two friends that he felt that he was neglecting before he had even lost sixteen years of his life.

He also found renew vigor in preparation for the weekend. He was even more sure now that even if he couldn't do much that he needed to do whatever it is that he could.

It still didn't make this reveal any easier and on monday he still didn't have the wits to bring up anything about Hekapoo. Not to Fergerson and Alphonso, not to Jackie and Janna and not even to Star.

It wasn't for a lack of trying. He actively spent the day to plan for a busy week. Something that would've given him time with each person that he wanted to tell. Janna, Jackie, Ferg, Al and Star.

It wasn't too busy. Not yet when he went home, he would plan time with his parents if he could. The two were always busy with some arts and craft or a party. They had an active social life for A couple with a fourteen year old son.

That afternoon after school he hung out with Jackie. Well it wasn't just Jackie. There was also Star, who sat on the side as Jackie helped him to stake. There were also some other people who Marco knew, though only because he felt that it was important to know some basic facts about classmates instead of any actual familiarity with them. No Janna through strangely enough. Marco however didn't pay anyone too much mind that afternoon. He only focused on Jackie.

What would she say? He imagine the worst case scenario, her crying and running off but that didn't really seem like her. He imagine the best scenario. She understood completely. This fantasy also included him winning the lottery despite not being old enough to buy a ticket and becoming queen of Mewni. Never will he have to shower alone again.

It was ridiculous, the worst case seemed more likely and he hated the fact that he was aware of it. He however had to tell her.

Which he would've but when he thought about it. When he was wobbling back and forth on a plank on wheels and she was holding him straight, he couldn't.

Especially when at one moment she grabbed both of his shoulders to balance him. He gave a smile that he hoped was cool and she gave one that he knew was cool. She would giggle and give him a peck on the lips and his lips would stay closed.

There was a part of him that knew he had to act immediately but there was also a part that told him that he could wait until thursday. That he should try and be happy with her because things might end when the truth gets out.

He couldn't argue with the latter right now. He didn't do anything wrong did he? He thought she would've been with someone else when he came home. If he had gotten back home, but she waited. He knew it was only eight minutes to her but it still felt like she was completely loyal for sixteen years. He didn't want to betray that.

He however had a daughter and even if it had to end, Marco knew it would be better if he was honest for the last few days. That in retrospect honesty would win out a happy lie. Too bad that when curfew hit he still couldn't open his mouth.

When he got to his room door. He waited. He watched Star go to her room. She smiled at him and waved before doing a twirl as she shut the door behind her.

He smiled for a moment and then let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding. It was almost like he was sucking up his gut all day.

He entered his room.

Provided that Star didn't feel energetic that night he would have time to think of a battle plan for the week. He needed to decide who he was going to hit, where and at what time.

He thought that maybe he should type something down on his laptop.

Unfortunately there was someone at his computer desk already.

The screen was unlocked. On display was the picture of Minerva. The baby grabbing for the dragon, same as before. Not like the picture would move when he was gone.

"Hello Marco." a voice came from his computer chair.

Marco gathered saliva as his mouth suddenly felt dry. "Hey Janna."


	4. Chapter 4

"Cute kid." she was leaning back on the computer seat, resting mostly on her hip. She looked more like she was draped onto the seat then actively sitting on it.

Marco took a step to the side. Most likely to try to move closer to the laptop while staying a reasonable distance out of the girl's bubble of personal space.

Janna dropped an arm back and the laptop inched away from Marco. "This isn't one of those photos that just came with your computer as a background is it?"

He took a step back and the laptop inched back to its previous position.

"Or maybe you took this during one of your field trips with Star." she trace her hand on the computer's trackpad. The mouse icon spun around the picture of the infant. "Or maybe it's just a hyper realistic drawing."

Her laugh nearly sounded like a grunt. "Never knew you had such a talent with art. Remind me to bring you next time I want to tag something."

She didn't know what he was going to say. What excuse he was going to use but she was ready for any of them. What Janna didn't expect for him to stand there, unflinching. "No none of those."

His words were blunt. Something that she never would've expected from Diaz at least not when he spoke to her. There was always a sort of tone in his voice that showed how nervous she could make him. That was gone and what was there was resignation. "It's exactly what it looks like."

"Exactly what it does it look like?" Janna sat straight like a stern teacher would. "Tell me what idea I'm suppose to to conjure up when I see this?"

"I-" Marco didn't want to say it but he had to figure out the easiest way to explain this.

"Cause it looks like you have a kid." she interrupted. "While you're dating my best friend."

She stood up and Marco remembered a very real fear he had of her.

He should've found it ridiculous. He's a grown man, mentally at the very least. He shouldn't be intimidated but he knew that there wasn't anything he had to bargain with. He could only hope that she would listen to what he had to say. "Janna I-"

"And man I have to give it to you. How old is this kid? You kept this under my nose for at least a few months." she smiled and laughed.

Marco didn't understand how she could make both actions equal parts terrifying and angry.

"Really thought you were a nice guy. Had me fooled for how long?" she paused and looked up. "How long did you basically stalk Jackie?"

Marco hesitated to answer. Not only because he was sure the question was rhetorical but because honestly he didn't know. Guess his whole childhood which from Janna's perspective was his whole life.

She stepped aside and leaned against the desk. With one hand she tilted the laptop's screen slightly back. "the kid looks like they're half a year old."

She looked up. "So six months and let's say this kid went through the full nine months before whoever poor girl you slept with pulled them out. That's fifthteen, more than a year and while this is going on you were still blushing and stuttering; trying to get the girl."

"Janna please." Marco raised his palms.

"Dude I was on your side." her smile faded. She drop any pretense of playfulness. "Don't you know how annoying it was to stand there as you tried to flirt with her."

Marco didn't say anything.

He didn't know what how to respond as he heard what he could only describe as Janna choking on her words, "It was so hard."

Her eyes- Marco could've been wrong but they seem to water just a bit and then Janna voice started to raise."I would've done it years ago if I was you."

He had to stop this. If she spoke any louder. If she started to yell- Marco didn't know if his parents were home or not but it would be really hard to explain if they overheard any of this.

"I've only met Star this year."

Janna paused. Was it only a year? Base on how close Marco and Star was it felt like it should've been longer. Janna wasn't friends with Star as long as Marco had been and it still felt like a lifetime. She just had an aura that just said 'love me'. It felt like she's been on Earth forever, but she hadn't. Star transferred in at the beginning of the year.

It was March now. That's seven months. Even if the baby was born early the timeline didn't make sense considering how old it looked.

That would've meant that he would've had met this girl who he hypothetical slept with some time ago which would be fine but the baby had horns. He met a girl with horns before Star?

It was- well it wasn't impossible. The Diaz hosted a lot of strange students before, the list including a llamma and robot. The fact that Marco met Star in the first place ripped the word 'impossible' out of the dictionary, but it was still very unlikely. "How?"

How did a fourteen year kid have a kid of his own? "It's- It's a long story."

"Make it simple." she made it sound like an easy task, but it wasn't as if he could stand there. She wasn't going to get bored and walk away if he just said nothing.

It wasn't simple but Marco tried to make it as easy to understand as possible. "Oh."

It was just that a simple 'oh'. It was soft, at least for Janna. Anyone who spent more than a minute with her could tell that much, but Marco couldn't tell if it was sympathetic or if it was judgemental.

He scratched the back of his neck. "So ya. That's it basically."

"Man." Janna paused and she looked away. Her gaze wasn't on anything in particular. Her eyes was just avoiding him. "That's a bit janked up."

He didn't know if he should nod a bit. He guess she was right. This was a bit of a mess. Whatever this all was.

Janna breathed in, breathed out and then she finally looked at him "and you still plan on doing this. Y'know doing the whole 'dad' thing."

She grimaced, "Am I supposed to be all supportive of this?".

"I don't know." Marco put his hands in his pocket. "They'll be kind of weird coming from you."

"Ouch."

"Sorry, just-" he searched for the words. "I'm more use to you being like 'real'. If that makes any sense. Like I'm putting everything on display here. So tear away is what I'm saying."

"Kidding man, but this is a bit more then making fun of your new haircut or casting a hex on you. This is big, really big."

"What's with my friends on placing curses on me." Trust Janna to make that sound causal. "I know this is big. It's just Minnie, my daughter. She's going to be here in a few days and everyone is going to know. So it's better if it's out there I guess. You can go ahead and just spill. To out me to everyone."

Janna tilted her head and her eyes just started drilling into the center of his forehead. "Diaz."

Her voice did something he never heard it so before. It shuttered. "Wanna know a secret?".

She took his silence for a 'yes'. "I have a giant crush on Jackie."

Any sentence with more than one word would've came out all clustered. Good thing he only needed one to get his message across "Why?".

Why was she telling his this?

She simply stated. "MAD."

"eh?" how elegant Diaz.

"Mutually assured destruction." she stated as if she wasn't one hundred percent sure if she had said them correctly. "Since you apparently believe that I'm gonna spread this around. There you go. I know your secret. You know mine."

"Ya, but my secret is not going to be a secret much longer."

"Just making sure you know that the days you have left: being known as the safe kid instead of the teenage dad. I'm not planning on taking those away."

"Oh" Marco said, "cool I guess."

He could stand a bit straighter knowing that. "So. Jackie?".

"Surprise that you're not the only one dogging after her for a couple of years?"

"No." he stated "well yes, but since when?"

"Junior high. Young enough to be in pigtails but old enough to realize that changing in the girl's locker room was a bit more awkward than you think it should be." she reminiscent "Jackie, you've seen her. She is so-".

She didn't really need to say anything. Marco understood completely. "Yes she is."

"And we've been friends for years already. Everytime I'm with her it's like I have this partner in crime. Everything we do is like a big heist and I guess things like that can be between best buds but-." she struggled.

"Janna. You don't have to say anything if you're not conformable."

"I just want you to know that I'm being straight." they both ignore the irony of that sentence. "What you got on me now is real."

"I wouldn't say I have anything on you. I don't think anyone can blame you for crushing on Jackie." Marco smiled "she's kind of amazing."

"Ya she is." Janna reaffirmed.

The two of them allowed the agreement to remain in the air as they thought about the blonde.

Janna was the one who broke the peace. "You have to tell her."

"I know." his hands covered his face. His eyes eye closed but he still tried to shut them ever fully like if he concentrated maybe this whole thing would just disappear.

"Then why haven't you?" He didn't answer. He had many ways to respond but none of them felt right. His back met the wall and he slid down to a crouch.

The girl stood before him. Her arms rose, her hands reached his shoulders. She knelt down to meet him eye to eye. "I'm going to be as serious as I'm ever going to be."

Marco breathed in through his nostril. He opened his eyes and his pupils shifted towards Janna. She continued. "Serious as a heart attack. I don't like it but you have to hear this. It's not going to be okay. Jackie isn't going to hear this and just say 'that's alright'." Janna paused.

"Actually she might do that but if she does then she's lying. As much as I love her she tends to keep some things bottled up. She tries to pull that then smack her for me." Janna tried to smile. Maybe if she could smile at this then Marco could too.

She couldn't, she was able to gather up a smirk that only held for a moment. "She's going to freak out. I don't know if she'll do it right away or if she'll do it after a bit, but she's going to freak out. There's no going around this and Marco this doesn't sound like-"

Janna trailed off. Her mouth hung open for a beat. She hands gripped his shoulders. "-it's not your fault. You couldn't have known this was going to happen. This isn't exactly something they cover in home ec."

She hopes he would smile at her little joke. He didn't. "This could- this whole thing just might be a deal breaker and I know that listening to me doesn't sound like the best idea considering- well everything."

It wasn't like she hadn't given him poor advice before. None of it was for something as real as this "When it comes down to it. Even if it's not your fault. Even if you might lose Jackie over this. You have to tell her. It won't make her stick around but down the road it's better for the both of you if you do."

He swallowed and noddes. "Thanks Janna."

She was right. He knew she was.

Her grip relaxed. "Hey don't mention it. Besides you going to keep the lid on my secret shut tight. Should make sure that everything goes smoothly."

She offered her hand and he took it. Between that and the wall he was able to get back up to his feet easily enough. Janna sighed "Actually feels a bit good. That secret of mine was causing me to bug out and now the two of us are finally on some equal footing."

"Great." Marco actually smiled. "Maybe I can use this to this to finally get my house keys back." he joked.

"Easy now. I can call the cops on you, you old perv." she smirked "What type of thirty year old man dates a fourteen year old girl?"

Marco groaned "Argh. I didn't need to think about that."

He pinched his nose and she laughed.

Marco looked up then down and spoke."Hey Janna. It's not like I'd ever tell anyone."

She stuck her touch out hin "Ya that's kinda obvious. You don't have the nerve."

"Through I'm going to be completely honest. I'm really happy that you don't have a crush on me."

He chuckled as her palm swatted his arm. "One day I'm going to kill Thomas for that rumor."

She wanted to check up. See maybe if he was having second thoughts. It would all be easier that way. Easier for her and easier for him. So she snuck in again.

It wasn't hard. She was ageless and with infinite time she had the basics of many skills. Sneaking being one that she felt people generally overrated. It was simple to gain access into his house.

Any portal not inside directly in front of him would remain unnoticed. Her first journey to his domain proved that to her. Disappointing, she knew that she trained him better than that.

He didn't even sense her when she was right out her door nor did he feel her when she cracked the door open. If there wasn't the current crisis between them than she would've had the mind to whip him back into shape.

There was no time for that at least not in his dimension with the standardized time sequence.  
It was a waste of time. All Hekapoo saw as she peeked into his domain was him talking to some girl his physical age. She didn't know who she was. She wasn't Moon's daughter. She would've recognized her. Maybe it was that girl that she remembered him mentioning a few times to her in the first few years of his journey in search for her. What was her name? Jackie.

She was pretty sure the name was Jackie, to an immortal like her, a few years back was like remembering a few days back.

So this must've been her. Hekapoo didn't think she looked like an awful choice. She wasn't bad looking for one. The dimensional mistress could sense a bit of a spark within her. Probably would go to waste in his magicless wasteland.

She however didn't make Hekapoo exactly want to leave the guy alone. She always allowed her exes to get with who they willed and she wouldn't interfere because they looked right for each other, but here Hekapoo could still feel herself making plans for the guy despite her best effort.

It was something that frustrated her and she had to remind herself that even if this girl wasn't right for him as she was guessing than that didn't mean he wouldn't down the line. He was still young for his species.

"Hello?" A feminine voice came from behind her.

Oh shoot. Shoot.

If there was one thing she didn't want was for him to see her. Not until friday at least. A silencing spell. She needed a silencing spell.

Hekapoo brushed her arm in front of the space in front of the door. A faint red flow appeared, visible to her and hopefully not to anyone else. It was something that only someone with a bit of magical aptitude would make it out.

She probably could had make it completely invisible but she had limited time and she had to brute force the magic. She had basically warp space around the entrance to mess with the soundwaves.

Not the easiest way to disrupt sound but what was she going to do? She was a girl with limited interests. She liked space, she liked fire and she liked clones.

Everything else she knew was mostly the result of a fleeting interest and yet she was still one of the strongest in the cosmos. Don't like her style? Fight her.

She turned to the intruder.

The intruder of her personal space.

She was well aware that she was actual an intruder in someone else's home.

Behind her was a woman with brown hair that for some reason that the demoness couldn't explain instantly endeared the woman to Hekapoo.

She smiled at Hekapoo. "Hello are you a friend of Star's?"

The otherworldly lady stared long and hard at the woman in front of her with a flat expression before answering simple "Yes."

Janna strolled to the door. "Well see you later man."

"Ya. See you around." Marco gave a weak wave.

"And hey Janna. Thanks." he said.

"Anytime Diaz, anytime." she opened the door and paused. She raised her hand and for some reason that Marco couldn't understand reached for thin air.

His dad walked to the view of the doorway and Janna arm dropped to the side.

"Oh hi there Janna." the large head of household greeted.

"Hey Rafael." she casually saluted as she stepped to the side of his and left.

"Marco, I wanted to see you." his dad poked his head in. "Your mom is making dinner today so I wanted to head over to the supplies store for some marble. Could you help me bring them in?"

He turned to his laptop. The screensaver was active. Good old space unicorns. He walked open to it and snapped it shut. He smiled to his father. He had a lot to plan for but he honestly couldn't remember the last time they spent time together. "Sure why not. Working on a new project?"

It was a quick trip, surprisingly. Usually his dad was pretty picky with his choice of tools. Conveniently enough when they got back dinner was basically already done. Pretty quick for his mom who often left the task up to her husband and so was no doubt out of practice.

Marco couldn't help but ask how she got the food out of the oven so quickly and in response she went on and on about how much of a good cook Star's friend was.

It wasn't something he expected to hear.

Janna didn't seem like the cooking type but to be honest there was a lot of things she did that day that Marco wouldn't have expected.

The next day of school was over before he could blink. Not literally as if he was once again trapped some time displaced dimension once more. No he could clearly remember the usual suspects, math class, social studies and english.

It was just that he try to keep his mind off of today's task and it worked. Not that he ever really found school to drag on slowly. He was usually the type to have of bit of fun learning, but today it was just a bit quicker. Too quick if you ask him because then he had to have a talk with Jackie.

"Sup Marco." Speak of the devil. A devil who rolled down the halls on her board. She smiled with him and he didn't know whether she batted her eyelashes at him or if that was simply his imagination.

He didn't have the strength to sound nearly as excited to see her as she sounded to see him "Hi"

"Hey Marco." his best friend was behind her along with the two girl's mutually friend. The beanie wearing girl he just had a conversation with yesterday. She gave him a look and he looked back.

Janna nodded and elbowed the magical princess next to her. "Hey Star. I got some spells book I smuggled into Diaz's locker. Was wondering if you could check some of them out."

"Sure girl. You know I can smell out magic a mile away." Star smiled and practically dragged Janna along as if the girl didn't know where he kept his belongings.

The hallway was unnaturally empty or so it felt. Just the two of them.

He looked away from her.

"Hey Jackie. I was wondering-" he looked her dead in the eye. "-can we talk for a moment?"


	5. Chapter 5

There were some steps that echoed through the house as the sole of her sneakers met with the wooden floor. Softening only when she made it to the carpet in her room. The door slammed behind her and she fell onto her bed. She curled into herself. The only thing separating her knees and her chest was her board which she held, arms crossed to her heart.

Her legs hurt. It only with the comfort that her bed gave her that she then realized that she could have boarded the entire way. She felt so dumb and she parted her lips to tell herself that.

The words didn't come out easy. Her throat felt clogged and letting each syllable made tears gather around her eyes.

She didn't say anything else. Why would she?

Words weren't making her feel better and she refused to continue any action that would only harm her. Besides ranting wasn't her style. Ranting was a bit too dramatic for her. Drama was something that she desperately avoided.

She had to think of something but all that came to mind was a familiar boy in a red hoodie.

* * *

"Hey Jackie. I was wondering can we talk for a moment?" he asked her.

"Okay." Jackie Lynn frowned. "What about?"

Her skateboard was under one of her arms. She shifted it. Holding it between the two of them. Each hand gripping a side. "It's not like we don't talk all the time."

Jackie Lynn didn't feel completely cool, which wasn't a completely foreign feeling to her but she was sure that she was able to hide it well enough. It was an acquired skill of her's.

Marco breathed deeply in a way that Thomas was for a moment worried that she would have to intervene before her boyfriend had one of his moments. "Well It's about last month."

* * *

Jackie shook her head and she was back on her bed. Her vision was blurry. She scolded herself silently. She was wanted to forget that. Thinking about it wouldn't help. It wasn't like it needed a review. There was no mistaking what had happened.

She had to focus away from that. Come back to it when she was ready to accept it. Ready to accept that he-

Anything else.

She had to think of anything else.

* * *

"Jacqueline, be a good girl and stay here."

She was a good girl. Pretty patient. That is what her nana always said about her. In retrospect she probably meant lazy but she didn't mind the positive spin on it. Her nan would also describe her as a bit curious at some points but most of the time she would just sit there. She didn't find that description to be insulting though she did remember nanna saying it slowly as if she was delivering bad news.

At least her nana must've thought it was bad news because the woman she often spoke to didn't seem to grow upset at the news but then again she never remember her nanna's much younger companion adopt any expression other than a blank and empty look. Well except for one time.

It was so long ago but at the time that her nanna took her to the dangerous shallow water of the aqueduct the incident was only the day before.

The expression was one that she at the time couldn't make sense of but she knew now was one of hate. She could only guess based on the evidence that her nearly five year old mind had chosen to bronzed in her memory that the rage was directed at her. It must've been because she didn't believe that it was coincidence that her nan would on the very next day take her to a strange place which she had not been before.

"Sit right here until I get back." her nan smiled at her in a way that didn't make her want to reciprocate the expression.

"Okay" she said in a sing song fashion. One often used by kids who might not agree with the command given to them by adults but who are smart to know that the only way to continue the conversation would be to acknowledge their task.

Nanna moved down the lane and around a corner. She took a peek back quickly. She had often did the same at home in the few occasions where she had to leave her grandchild alone.

No. No, this wasn't the same. It didn't have the same playfulness it did at home.

Jacqueline didn't giggle at it. Maybe because she didn't do it lightening fast as if daring the youth to let her elder catch her doing no good or maybe it was because the woman didn't have the mock expression of suspicious that she would always use. A signal to her that her nan would find out about anything she did while she was away.

At that time the expression wasn't funny. It just wasn't.

Maybe it could be described as sad but Jacqueline couldn't fully trust her memory as that could be a sign of future knowledge affecting how she perceived the memory. Whatever expression it was it wasn't jagged and amuses but instead soft.

While her elder, Jacqueline never remember her nanna looking old except for that moment.

* * *

Jackie took a deep breath in and she was on her bed once more. She wasn't sure why she was thinking of that at this exact moment. It wasn't a memory that had disappeared up until now. It something that her mind went to every once in awhile, something that always followed her.

Usually when it came it had the smallest of impacts. It made her smile not as bright or frown a bit deeper. It never completely ruined anything but it was something that often irritated her and she would often try her best to avoid it when it drifted into her thoughts.

At the moment it didn't seem to affect her in any meaningful way but she knew where that story would lead and she was tired of reliving it. Like a television rerun she chose to try and skip the memory for something else.

"Well It's about last month."

"Last month?" Jackie Lynn chose her facial expression slowly. Eventually deciding on a smirk of sorts. "What is there to talk about? You grew a second head, asked me out on a date and when I returned the favor we fought an army of rats. Boring, right?"

She gave a laugh and for a moment it seemed to actually lift him slightly out of whatever funk he had sunk into. Only for a moment. Then he went back to- well she couldn't really call it a frown but it was far too serious expression for her to really call it anything else.

* * *

Uh Oh.

"Hey Marco, is everything alright?" was he having one of his 'moments', as she liked to call it? As much as she cared about him, she knew that he could go from chill to a mess in no time at all. Though it had been a bit since his last fit, a little bit after they started dating.

"Yes" he said while shaking his head 'no', "it's just…"

He trailed off.

"Come on you know you can tell me. Whatever it is." she lowered her skateboard to her waist.

He looked away from her.

* * *

Jackie turned over on her mattress and she was hugged her skateboard even closer to the point that she normally would have been worried that her mode of transportation would snap. Right then the idea of breaking something was actually alluring. She of course resisted. Logic told her that anything she did now would still be here when she felt better. If she did feel better. Logic was no fun.

She wanted to laugh at the possible joke but what came out instead was a sigh.

* * *

Jacqueline stayed glued to the spot, leaning, not quite sitting at the edge of the concrete. Her lower half dipped into the water.

The patience of a four year old, even one as lazy as she was would die out. It was inevitable that the child would eventually go off and explore even only to search for her missing guardian.

She explored the watery tunnels. She couldn't say how long. Repetition wasn't something that discouraged a kid. The only fact that she could use as a passage of time was that she had been exploring long enough to forget where it was that her nanna told her to wait. Not helping was the fact that the sun had gone down way before she had even began her journey.

None of this mattered to her. She was patience and was sure that her nan would find her. Until thense would continue to explore and nothing would stall her. Not that shadows in her peripheral vision which tricked her into believing a misshapen form were steps away behind her nor the tunnels which allowed any little sound to echo around and amplify which transformed any creak into a sharp scream.

* * *

Jackie cringed.

Descending the stairwell, she paused as it creaked with each step. In the empty home the noise rang throughout the house like a shout.

Jackie when she found the strength to leave the room, did so more out of her desperation. She had exchanges her board for a pillow which se held to her stomach.

It caused her to cringe every time and she could only thank small miracles when she finally reached the bottom. She turned into the kitchen.

* * *

Jacqueline was hungry.

She wasn't the best at telling time even when she had a clock, but if she did have a clock she was sure that it would tell her that it was way past snacktime.

Her Nanna was still nowhere she could see her and she was the one who usually gave her food besides for a few times when she had been sick. Without her, Jacqueline would completely missed snack, for however long it usually was.

To her luck she found a piece of candy. Fortunately she didn't have an adult around to stop her from putting strange objects in her mouth. It was a bit bitter probably from soaking in the dirty water around her but she felt it go down her throat and hit her stomach, a sign that it was a meal that she desperately needed.

* * *

Jackie let go of the pillow dropping it onto the counter dead center of the kitchen. She reached down and pulled the washing machine open taking out the glass. She must've place the cup down onto the granite a bit harder then she meant to because it made a piercing tap. She brought her hand to her temple and breathed deeply.

Stepping onto the tips of her toes she reach upwards to the cupboards. She needed aspirin.

* * *

Jacqueline started to feel queasy. Her belly felt as if sea urchin was sticking into her innards. She had a sneaking suspicion that it was the candy.

Maybe she wasn't as fortunate as she first had perceived.

Not only did her stomach churn but also her eyes grew droopy. If she was in the reaches of her nanna she would have no issue sleeping anywhere even on the hard floor but without her guardian she found the willpower to not give in to the temptation of relaxation. Instead to continue to move back and forth the watery tunnels. The aqueduct wasn't complicated but to a four year old it was a maze. One that she didn't want to be in any longer.

She turned another corner. Seeing nothing but a wall of trash she at first wanted to turn away from the gross mess which polluted the water, but she saw something in the heap. It was dark so she wasn't sure if she saw it correctly but she was sure that there was something moving in the dark.

* * *

"Jackie." she turned and admittedly dropped the pill bottle. The bottom of the container hit the floor and pills gushed out.

The figure in the dark frowned and Jackie barked "Janna."

The blonde's friend had the grace to look embarrassed. A rare sight for anyone who knew the girl. "Sorry."

An apology. Also rare. An sincere one at that.

"It's cool Jan. Kind of on par for you. Old habits don't die fast." she tried to show a smile. No harm, no foul.

"No." Janna placed her palm in the corner that separated them. "I'm sorry about that crud with Diaz."

* * *

As Jacqueline squinted she knew that she definitely saw something living on the pile of trash.

It was lumpy looking, shaped like maybe a pillow or a beanbag.

It was some kind of otter.

It turned to her clutching some type of food while resting on top of the mass heap.

The animal took a bite out of what it was clinging to quickly while keep it's eyes on Jacqueline. From what she could tell the poor thing must've been tired. The hair below it eye's were black, resembling the bags under her nanna's eyes when she needed a nap.

She didn't know what to make of the little guy. She probably should be scared but she was brave or at least she reminded herself that she was brave. Jacqueline wasn't going to just turn tail and abscond. That would completely be courageous of her.

Instead she went down the list of emotions moving into the second item, sympathy.

If Jacqueline was more eloquent than she would speak to the creature. The strange otter was obvious tired. The fur around its eyes symbolic of it's actually skin underneath.

Instead she decided to display sympathy the only way she knew how to. Imitation. In this case she decided to try and adopt the mannerisms of her nanna whenever Jackie was hurt, tired or just plain cranky. A couple of pats followed from a warm hug.

"Oh there there." she opened her mouth, putting on her best granny voice which considering she was four and has not developed acting abilities lead to the voice sounding very much like her normal tone.

She reached out her arm, actually excited to sooth the animal.

That is about how far she got before the strange animal swiped at her.

* * *

Jackie Lynn felt pain.

"So" began her boyfriend or well she wasn't sure what his title was now. "That's it."

Her eyes were on him. His eyes were on his shoes.

"So that its." she mimicked. He nodded his head slowly.

What exactly was she suppose to do with this? How did he think she was going to act? How should she act?

Was she suppose to smack him? How dare he just drop this on him out nowhere. Was she suppose to laugh? Make a joke? Haha invite me to the kid's first birthday.

That just sounds lame and stupid. Jackie Lynn couldn't pull it off anyway. She had to act normal. She had to think about how she act if this how thing didn't screw her over. Wait that thought was a bit harsh. This wasn't about her. This was screwing him over too.

He was already beating himself up. She knew this. She knew him.

She had to not make this worst. She had to act normal. She had to act supportive.

Jackie Lynn opened her mouth, "Marco."

He flinched and his eyes shot at her. There was a feeling of instant regret in her decision.

He would want an answer now and she had no idea what to say. Her throat tightened and when she opened mouth it was as if she was learning to talk all over again. She let out a noise that sounded like "I" and whatever other words she was planning to let out got caught.

Her vision grew blurry.

She tried again but the words she knew she should say didn't want come out. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand hoping to clear whatever was blinding her. He hand felt wet. "I have to go."

It wasn't her. Sure Marco and she were the only two there and sure the voice sounded a lot like her but it wasn't her. That wasn't what she wanted to say. She wanted to tell him that it was fine. "I have to go."

"Jackie, I'm-" he began. She didn't see his facial expression. Jackie Lynn already turned around. "See you later."

She ran.

* * *

Jacquline felt pain.

There was a long scratch in her hand. She moved back. The otter glared at her and made a sound that was somewhere between a bark and a hiss. It didn't follow her. Never touching the water, it instead it stayed on the trash pile. She stared at the cut.

It didn't hurt her at all. She was a brave girl. Everyone would tell you the same thing. She was brave and she wasn't going to cry just from a small boo boo.

She cover the cut with her other hand. The wind was blowing on the open wound and causing it to sting.

It was okay. Everything was okay. It's just a small cut.

The dumb otter was right. This whole soothing thing didn't seem to work as well coming from her then when it came from her nanna.

"What's going on down there?" Jacquline swung around. She hug her arm to her body, protecting from the intruding voice. What she saw was a large figure. They must've been larger than even nanna. She had no idea what this was. A face if they had one was covered in a light gray gray hood. Any details she might find was hidden in the dark. Even the moonlight above was covered by clouds. Whatever it was it leaned against the concrete slope down towards the aqueducts. "Kid, what are you doing down here?"

Her nanna told her never to speak to strangers.

"Come on kid. You shouldn't play in the water down here. It's dirty." the hooded figure slide slightly down the slope.

Jacquline still said nothing.

"Come on. I'm not going to hurt you? Whats wrong?"

* * *

Jackie felt pain. "You knew?"

She took half a step back. There wasn't a lot of room for her to maneuver around the center counter of the kitchen.

Janna sighed, "Told me yesterday. Told him he had to tell you. I see that he did."

The blonde let out a breath she didn't know she was holding as the tension left her body. Her mouth opened. Her mouth snapped shut and a stream of air shot from her nasal. After a minute all she could accomplish was a small nod.

"So how did you take it?" the girl cringed. What type of question was that? "I mean, what did you do? Marco wasn't exactly willing to talk about it."

"I didn't" Jackie was sure that she was able to say that in as neutral of a tone as possible.

Janna leaned forward, "You didn't what?"

"I didn't say anything. I just bailed." she admitted. "Janna, how- what am I supposed to do?"

Janna looked away. "I don't know. This whole thing is crazy. I mean. I was hoping that you guys would figure it out. I don't think I should be the one to give you advice here."

Jackie began to slump down a bit.

"You should talk." her friend added quickly, "This is between you and him. So you guys should figure it out. When you feel up to it."

The blonde stood up straight and walked away.

"Wait Jackie." Janna's eyes followed the girl as the blonde walked out of the kitchen.

"Jackie" she repeated as her legs finally kicked in and she skipped out into the living room.

The skateboarder was already on the couch, curled up with her legs to her chest. A phone from the landline in her hand.

"I said when you were ready." Janna repeated. She didn't wa to push the girl to any action. "I didn't even mean to give you advice. I was just thinking out loud."

"I know." Jackie confirmed. "I just need to say something."

"Jackie" She have known Janna for so long. How is it that she didn't know that her friend could speak so softly. "You shouldn't- you shouldn't let all this junk hang in, but when your head's all messed up maybe you shouldn't just let it out immediately."

Janna did an amazing job at keeping eye contact when both of them knew that the other didn't have the strength for it. "Cause sometimes you can end up dumbing trash where you don't exactly mean to. Then it's like dude 'why are there banana peels and half eaten meat loaf on my lawn. That's suppose to be at the village dump, not burying my lawn gnome', if that makes sense."

Janna made a noise that resembled a chuckle, hoping that Jackie would mimic it.

Jackie just nodded and raised the phone to her ear.

* * *

Jacqueline started to move away from the hooded figure.

"Please. I just want to help." the voice was loud but not as loud as she would expect from a thing so large. The man pulled down his hood and she sae his eyes full of concern.

It reached out a brown hand towards her. "Come on let's get you out of the water."

The little girl relented.

She looked at him. She looked at his legs.

She reached out her uninjured arm and allowed him to pull. For the first time Jacquline stepped out of the water.

"I got you." He picked her up, carrying her like one would carry an infant. She didn't mind. He looked around, "What are you doing out here? Where are your parents?"

She didn't respond. "You look horrible. Pale. We need to get you to see somebody quick."

The man began to go back up slope. Jacqueline looked at the water as it drew further and further away.

"The misses said I shouldn't go jogging late at night. 'Never know what I find.' I guess she was sorta right in this case." Jacqueline looked up at the man who stopped. The top of the slope was grassy with a long wooden bench. "I'm going to make a quick phone call."

He sat her down on the bench and she shivered. The wind surrounded her. "You must be freezing. How long were you in there?"

The man paused for a moment. Gray cotton shot at Jacquline, covering her. She panicked for a moment but after a minute of struggling her head popped out from underneath cloth. The man was no longer wearing the hood but instead had black shirt which must've been underneath. He had a seashell necklace.

"Sorry." he tried to apologize but he must've found something amusing with her reaction. Out from his pocket was a flip phone which he dialed into. He spoke into it and someone she couldn't see spoke back. By the time he was done she had finished wrestling the hood he gave her and was able to get it on properly.

He closed his phone and looked back at her, "First things first. We should take care of that cut."

She looked at her forgotten wound and nodded.

He smiled down at her. "I'm going to take you to my house for a second. Would you like something to eat? My wife is there. I'm sure she find something that you'll like."

She once again nodded and he picked her up once again.

That was the first time she went home with her dad.

* * *

Marco stared at his ceiling and while it was a simple construct of plaster and wood without a face, he still would like to imagine at it was staring back.

He did it.

He would like to say that the worst of it was over. That he had ripped off the bandage with his confession and now a weight was lifted from his shoulder. That now that Jackie knew who he was expecting on friday- what kind of responsibility he was expecting, that everything would stop and come into sync.

He would like to say all that.

He just couldn't.

That was the worst moment of his life. A life that regularly consisted of near death experiences.

If there was any proof that he didn't know Jackie as in truly know her after years of childhood stalking, it was the face he made when he told her. He didn't know that her face could contain such heartbreak. That she could take on an expression worse than mild confusion, but now he'd seen it and he would never forget it, how betrayed she looked.

She waited for him.

He was gone for so long and when he returned this is what he brought to her.

He wanted to do better. He wished he could.

When he was gone. She was one of the people that made him doubt. Made him second guess chasing Hekapoo in her world sized obstacle course and just go home empty handed. He had thought 'would Star miss him?'. Did his parents think he was dead?

Would he never get to truly know Jackie?

All these thoughts disappeared after time. Everything eventually disappears with age and his mind went through a decade and a half.

He was thirty. Of course everyone would move on, but then all of a sudden he was fifthteen again and there she was along with those once missing thoughts. Would he get to know Jackie?

He had plans for dinners and dates. One on one time.

He was going to know everything about her and she would get to know him, even the facts about himself that he didn't like. Along the way they would enjoy themselves.

That wasn't going to happen now. He knew that way before she ran from him like a woman possess. He could only just accept it. He didn't even have the energy to make up a lie for Jackie's behavior when Star came back just in time to see his girlfriend's- ex girlfriend's form pick up speed as she fought to get away from him. He just stood there for a moment before walking back to the safety of his room. He didn't acknowledge his best friend the whole trip home.

The phone rang and he almost didn't answer.

If it was any other tone he wouldn't have but he knew that song.

Everyone he knew had a different tone. Tedious but Marco prided himself on his attention to the tedious. This song was one of two from Love Sentence's last album. One song he had dedicated to his best friend, a certain blonde princess from another dimension. The other belong to a girl who's name he must've known for his whole short life. "Jackie?"

He heard his own name in response "Marco?"

"I'm so sorry. You deserve so much better and I messed up completely. I understand if you never to see me again. I'm just the worst. There is absolutely nothing I can say that would be good enough."

"Marco."

"I wanted to be there, now I'm going to be a dad and I told you how much you meant to me. I told you about everything I did when we were kids, but it doesn't matter anymore cause I messed up. I messed up hard."

"Marco!" he swallowed his words and curse at himself in the back of his mind. Even now he was messing up. She probably wanted to scream at him. She deserved to chew him out and he was just rambling.

He pressed the phone closer to his skull.

"Just…" the short burst of energy she used to grab his attention was gone. He could believe make out what she was saying on the other line. "just whatever happens. Please take care of her. Promise me that."

He promised but all he heard in return was dial tone.


	6. Chapter 6

Miss Heinous was a patient woman. She was, really. After all she started a school to discipline the children of the regal. When the royalty of cosmos lost patience they went to her and nobility were known for their level heads and calm mask. These saintly people when they lose hope in their offspring, went to her. That should speak volumes of her composure and if the royal recommendations weren't enough then her rate of success would.

There was a time when every girl that went through her halls became the lady that they're family wanted them to be but couldn't teach them to be. She made it look easy. It wasn't.

Some of the girls were crude and savage but any difficulties could be ignored once they were solved. That outside appearance of ease was much more important than the actual reality of her efforts. She created grace and poise and she did so while displaying both virtues herself. She felt that was an accomplishment worth patting herself on the back, but bragging was unbecoming. Also there was nothing to gain from being prideful of something that has long passed.

While she was once the headmistress of the top reform of the cosmos, she was now the headmistress of a ten by ten foot plot of land where nothing resigned.

It was an embarrassment. One that could be traced back to one individual. A young lady by the name of Princess Marco. A troubled individual that on her first day at the prestigious school had started a riot, a surprisingly effective one. Rebellion wasn't anything new to Heinous, but in most cases the fire of resistance would quickly be stomped out by the a combination of both her guards and her older indoctrinated students. This was not one of those times.

The skirmish, for lack or a better word lasted two days following the escaped of this rabble- rousing girl. She soon lost not only control of her girls, but soon her guards. It wasn't really a secret but her guards weren't strictly "natural" as one might assume. They were made from a few items that she had lying around her collections. Nuts and bolts, a few rare objects of witchcrafts and a couple of her more disappointing former associates. Nothing that would or no one who be missed.

It was much more efficient that her help was that way. Most people she worked with tended to be a bit more sensitive than she liked. She couldn't count the all the events where her employees thought they knew better than her when to came to her charges' rehabilitation. Fighting orders only wasted time and her creations had only did so once for every ten times an unmodified individual would and a few readjustments killed any arguments they had nice and quickly.

The downside was that without her equipment any control she had were null and void. The fact that the adolescents far outnumbered her men was one issue. When they overran her facilities and wrench her constructs out of her control- well that was a disaster.

That left her with only two men, the forever loyal and sweet Rasticore and Gemini, who if she was honest, only really counted as half a man. Maybe, three fourths of one if she was being excessively generous.

"Madam. I have retrieved Rasticore's tool from the quest mart's lost and found." the hunchback slithered near her and dropped the magical object that he could barely hold onto with his tiny gremlin like hands. "I'll have to say that the journey was quite treacherous."

Still he was useful, Heinous dreaded to admit. It was to her luck that she had put him through all that extra conditions years back. It allowed her to keep a leash on him even as all her other men turned against her.

"You've performed adequately." It would gain her nothing if she praised the twig of a man too much. Wouldn't want her minion to believe he was actually worth something. "Now back to your quarters."

His quarters were the trunk of her only property, the car she had escaped the school in.

Gemini stood there.

"Now," she turned towards him. "Rasticore and I want to be alone. We're going to watch Tiresias as it sets in the horizon."

In Henious' arms was her most loyal of subjects or at least what remained of him after an unknown incident during his last mission.

He was gone for now. The limb's every twitch: nothing more than muscle spasms. They held no meaning but Henious liked to believe that he was communicating to her specifically. She couldn't understand his exact words, but she understood the general meaning behind his gestures.

Soon he'll be back and when he was whole, Rasticore will finish what he started. This time he'll kill Princess Marco.

These thoughts filled her with warmth as she watched the saturn-like planet set in the distance.

The first sign that someone was beside Marco was a when he heard a slight thud against the locker next to his. The second sign was when his own locker opened up. It couldn't have been his doing. He was too busy staring at it to do any such thing.

It was someone else and behold a hand that definitely didn't belong to him. His eyes followed the appendage, closer, closer until his sight arrived to it's destination. In this cause the' 'destination' turned out to be his current secret bearer, the troublemaker.

"So Marco, how are you holding up." Janna flipped the locker open wider before pulling out a binder that he knew didn't belong to him.

"Janna that question suggest that you actually believe that there is any way I could feel that isn't horrible."

She shrugged. "I thought it would be polite to ask anyway."

Marco nodded. He wasn't sure if she was joking or not. He usually would go with the former but they had this whole 'honest' moment the other day and that sort of thing really changes people. "How about Jackie? How is she handling things?"

"You're not hanging around your usual morning spot to find out?" She saw the look he gave her. "Come on. We share a locker. You think I never noticed how you rushed here same time every day just to nod."

He wanted to counter that they didn't really 'share a locker' as much as it was 'her stealing locker space' but instead he said, "I almost want to ask why you never pointed this out to her."

Janna tilted her head and he elaborated, "Could've creep her out. No girl wants a stalker."

Janna shook her head, "Too risky. Back then it could've made her back off you but it could've backfired. Remember back then she didn't even see you as an option. Pointing out your obsession could've brought her attention to you. Didn't want to exactly help my love rival. Besides knew you wouldn't have a nerve to do anything."

That made sense "Guess I'm lucky that Star helped me out when she did."

"Don't I know it." Janna stuffed the binder in her bag. "Wish I had a personal matchmaker."

"Didn't think it'll bother you." Marco removed his backpack and unzipped it. "In retrospect you took me being with Jackie really well."

"I don't do 'upset'. I channel that into more creative avenues." She rolled her eyes.

Marco reached into his locker and dropped his pencil bag unceremoniously into his open pack. "That explains that. You ended up having detection for like a week straight after I took Jackie to the movies." It was hard to tell at the time but there was a noticeable boost in Janna activity around that time.

'The greatest art is inspired by suffering." she smiled knowingly, "Besides plenty of fish. You know how the saying goes. Just got to throw in my line."

Marco blinked. "Anyone in mind?"

Janna eyes wandered down the hallway. Marco followed her gaze. He saw two familiar girls chatting near the end of the intersection at their own lockers. His best friend and her clone. Well he couldn't call Starfan a clone, no matter how much of a compliment she would take it as. "Well I was thinking quite a bit about our residential magical girl-"

"Star?" There were no consideration that it was the other of the two. "Really?"

"What can I say, got a thing for blondes." She paused for a moment, staring at specific features of the blonde for a bit longer than was probably socially acceptable. A large frown break her moment and her arms crossed her chest, "Just my luck however, she got it bad for some guy."

"Oscar, right." Marco shook his head. He just didn't understand how someone as cool as Star could like Oscar Greeson of all people. He was - well some people considered him cool but he was too irresponsible for his own taste. Though Marco had to admit that the guy knew how to chill.

"Ya that's exactly who I had in mind." Janna rolled her eyes and gave him a look he very rarely seen. For a moment he wondered what he missed that apparently his friend thought was completely obvious. The girl swung back and started to lean back against the locker adjacent to Marco's. "There aren't too many girls with as much confidence as Star and Jackie."

"Unless you start going after Brittany. She got enough confidence for three people." Marco bobbed his head down the opposite end of the hallway. Where the self proclaimed queen of the school was currently touching up her make up. One of her hench women was holding up a hand mirror as she did.

Janna cocked an eyebrow and her eyes moves towards the cheerleader. Her eyes went up and down and back up. She brought a finger to her lips, "That's an idea."

Marco smirked.

Janna smirked.

There was a moment and then Marco smirked died. Metaphorically it was taken out back and shot, old yeller style, "Oh Janna you can't be serious."

She clicked her tongue and gave her best impression of the Cheshire cat, "We both know for a fact that I am."

"But she's Brittany." Before today Marco didn't think he would have to spell that fact out to anyone. To be fair before this week he didn't think he would talk about any potential girl for Janna.

"Marco there are two types of relationships in this world." her tone was of a parent spreading words of wisdom to a child, "There are the ones where you snuggle under a blanket, watching a movie Wednesday night and there are the ones that slowly transition from trying to tear each other's throat to tearing each other's clothes off."

Marco pinched his nose, "That's an image I could've gone without."

"You're welcome." Janna waggled her eyebrows. Sudden her head turned. The hoodlum took a long look through the hallway in a way that made it look perfectly natural, "So back to Star. She doesn't know does she?"

"No." The safe kid cringed. He bent his knee and took a look behind Janna, back down to Star, "I should tell her, shouldn't I?"

"Hey man, I'm not trying to order you around. I'm not going to point at everyone and demand you spill the beans to them." Her arms rose defensively, "Just clarifying, since she wasn't exactly in the room when Pony Head was gossiping away your secret to me."

"Pony Head." Marco's growl caught itself in his throat. It was unexpected but at the same time he should've seen it coming.

"I vaguely remember promising you a couple of normal days before things got twisted on Friday, but I hope you can settled for some abnormal ones." Janna pondered.

Marco's eyebrow rose, "What do you mean?"

"Hey guys."

Janna jumped a bit. At least Marco thought she did. Even after this time he had trouble reading her.

Blonde hair stepped from behind his locker buddy. It belonged to a familiar face, his best friend, Star Butterfly.

"Star, just the girl I wanted to see." Janna curled her arm around the magical girl's shoulder. She moved in a way that didn't at all look innocent even withdrawing her admitted attraction to her blonde.

It of course went completely unnoticed by his friend, "What's going on here?"

"So Diaz here got bit by that old adventuring bug." the darker toned girl pointed towards Marco, who could only stare and guess what she was planning.

"Oh sorry. Can't keep track of every little thing I cast up." Star frowned.

All three stopped.

Janna shook her head, "What? Nah Star I mean that he wants to go dimension hopping for bit. Was wondering if you could hook a brother up."

"You know I'm down for anything any time." Star pumped her arm, "I know just the place too. I can take you there right after school."

The princess gave her bestie a smile, turned and started to walk away. 'Started' being the keyword. Janna stepped after and turned her back around, "Actually bad boy Marco here was thinking of taking a sick day."

"Oh, Marco why didn't you tell me you weren't feeling well today." Star particularly started to cradle her housemate. She checked his temperature with her back of her hand. Marco was turned around and he felt her girl push against his back towards the general direction of his house, "I'm going to get you right home and I know a couple of extra dimensional remedies that you are just going to love."

"No Star." Janna palm covered her eyes. Her head tilted back, "He's going to skip."

"He is?" The transfer student's words were drawn out.

"I am?" So were Marco's.

"Hey I'm as surprised as you are, but you can never underestimate this misunderstood hoodlum." she said as if it wasn't at all her own idea.

"Oh Marco, you're so bad." Star giggled. She ducked started to rub shoulders with Janna,"You think the we're finally starting to rub off on him?"

Janna smiled, "Totally."

"Janna can I talk to you for just a moment?" Marco's arm move out gracefully around his bestie, grabbing Janna's arm. He pulled her to the side.

She sighed, "If you gotta."

"Star give me a moment." Marco told her highness who shrugged and granted his request. He turned to the troublemaker, "I'm not quite sure about this."

Eyes rolled, "Really Diaz even now? Your life is about to change completely. Think of this as your bachelor's party."

"Not married." Marco deadpanned, "Hekapoo made that very clear."

"Baby shower, whatever." Janna twirled her palm.

"Just for once Diaz, put away all that doubt and have a bit a fun. Like for a bit there. Before all this-" it was a bit difficult coming up with the exact words that described what was happening to the teen, "-stuff happened, you were really starting to live and after a lifetime of harassment I'm going to at least make sure you know when to have a good time. I'd be damn if I am going to let this kill whatever progress you made."

Marco could actually see what Janna was talking around. He had started to relax. Maybe because he started to go on adventures with Star, maybe because he had actually made progress with Jackie or Janna's teasing had started to finally sink in after all this time. Strange enough, even his time with Hekapoo had a lot to do with it before his recent revelation.

"It's just-" he thought about it, "What if I get caught?"

Janna gave him a look but he continued, "My parents will get a call and then they'll wanna know 'why I was skipping' and then I'll have to tell them. I'd have to let them know about Minnie and I'm not sure if I'm ready."

"Hey stay with me Marco. Or swear to god I will pacify the hell out of you." If it had been anyone else it would've been more believable, but Janna place her hands on his shoulder. Her left palm rubbed up and down his arm, "I've seen Jackie play therapist to your panic attacks. I will shoosh pap you so bad, you'll wish i didn't shoosh pap you so bad."

Marco let something out of his throat which he guessed was a laugh before rubbing dust out of his eyes. It was definitely dust. Stupid dusty hallway, "I think that I'll be fine. You'll probably right. I'll be fine."

"Besides I think your parent's first instinct upon finding you skipped out would be to join you." Janna smirked.

He shook his head, "I don't know about that."

"First grade?" Eyebrows cocked and set to 'i don't believe you.'

Marco instantly knew what she was talking about. It was that day long ago that he learned about the horrors of 90's fashion and his dad learned that the correct response to your son getting mis-graded on a test wasn't to take him to egg the teacher's house. Also he learned to make sure to double check addresses cause the cops are a lot willing to overlook one egging then two. His mom wasn't too pleased about the incident, especially how traumatized her son was a result.

It still gave his nightmares.

90s print shirt, overalls and a skull cap, just the thought sent a shiver down his spine.

Marco made a face that only showed a trace of his inner suffering, "Mom didn't like that too much."

"And I counter with this: second grade." Janna said.

That was his mom's turn. This time he got to learn the wonders of graffiti while his mom wore the hippest clothes she could think of. Backwards cap, baggy pants and a tube top, denim jacket combo. Why did they make him suffer so?

"I'm starting to think that my parents were just the experience I needed for raising a kid."

Janna shrugged, "Probably or at least they will be once she get's to her rebellious teen years."

"Excuse me." Marco brought his nose up. "I believe that my Minerva will grow to be the perfect little angel."

"Whatever old man." She lightly pushed him in a way where he didn't really move at all, or at least not because of any external force. "Just get going."

He turned around. His bestie was waiting patiently. He moved towards her.

"and Marco…" Janna voice caused him to pause,

"Thanks. For listening me talk about-" she didn't want to say the subject of their earlier discussion out loud. At least where there were prying ears. "-all that stuff. I'm not really out and a bout if you know what I'm saying."

"Come on Marco. We got to hurry up before we run into Skullnick or something. She can smell a kid playing hooky a mile a way." Star's incredible bout of patience had finally ran out, "One of the downsides of giving her a troll nose"

"Got it Star." Marco nodded. He turn one last glance at Janna, "Anytime Janna."

Star pulled his arm, planning on taking him to somewhere the two could slip away from the attention of the school's faculty. "So what were you two talking about?"

"Oh, you know." he didn't really feel like making up an answer, "stuff."

"Oh right 'stuff'", Star muttered, obviously unconvinced, "Should I tell Jackie to watch out?"

Marco stiffened, "What are you talking about?"

"Well I think Janna has a small crush on you." Star whispered. Considering this was Star however, it was a normal tone of voice for anyone else. "I considered matching you two up, but you're my bestie and I know you had your heart set on Jackie."

Star bit on one of her fingers, "I feel bad it didn't work out. You and her. Maybe I can find Janna a nice guy. I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't hang with a cool girl like her."

Marco snorted, "Star I don't know what you think, but I can safely say that Janna doesn't have a crush on me."

Angie Diaz balance paper bags on one knee. Keys were dug out from her purse and she had only just stuck in her door when she heard the sound of fire crackling behind her.

She turned around, but she had a sinking suspicion of who it was even before she had laid her eyes on the girl.

"Oh Star isn't home yet. Bet she and Marco are out on the town." Mrs Diaz turned key, "They might take a while. Don't want to keep you waiting."

"That's okay. Honestly I wanted to see if we could-" the girl struggled with the words."You know- again?"

Angie had trouble understanding how such a pretty girl could have trouble talking to her. Thinks must be so different in other dimensions. If she was born on Earth, she would be swarmed by girls and boys her age.

The first day she had found the girl in the hallway, just looking around. Angie found it a little amusing, the girl must've been fascinated by earth. Could anyone imagine that, an otherworldly visitor amazed by the little blue and green rock she called home, when all those other dimensions out there have to be so much more interesting.

She had asked if the girl wanted a snack and in return the girl wanted to know if Mrs Diaz wanted help with any little thing. She couldn't of anything. They ended up cooking dinner even though it was her hubby's turn, but she enjoyed the time with the teen, just as much as when she spent time with Star. She came the next day too, when it was actually Angie's turn to prepare dinner and again the two made something that her husband and her son had praised. It was wonderful. Angie secretly wishes that she could've also have had a daughter. "Oh, you want to help me cook dinner. Well I love the help, but three days in a row and I bet your parents must think that I'm a slave driver. I bet your mom or dad would look forward to spending the time with you more than I could."

It was a sacrifice she was willing to make. Plus it didn't do her any girl to hang with an old crone like her.

"No way, my dad-" the red headed girl almost snarled, "-isn't really the cooking type. Junk food is more his speed and 'mom', never had one of those."

The girl spoke a bit quieter as the sentence ended.

"Oh." Angie said simply, "Well I guess I don't see why you can't help around a little. Though I usually don't cook dinner for some time. So you'll might have to stop by later."

The girl nodded but there was something there that Angie had recognized. Disappointment.

"I know." the misses of the house piped in before the girl in front of her could leave, "Since you're here already, why not some tea for a bit?"

She didn't look particularity excited, but she did smile. Mrs Diaz took that as her making the right decision.

"Okay" Hekapoo accepted the offer.

"And here we are." Star stepped through the portal. Her arms up high in an act of showmanship.

"It is nothing." Marco uttered. His arm also high in an act of mocking Star's showmanship. "Seriously Star this whole place looks like dry plains and more, somehow even drier plains."

"Oh Marco marco marco. Have I ever steered you wrong." Star rolled her eyes.

He paused. He couldn't exactly refuted that. She did always pick somewhere exciting. Sometimes more exciting then he was comfortable with, but exciting none the less, "No."

"The relax. I know a bunch of caves just over the horizon that are particularly begging to be explored." Star stuck out her wand and pointed in a direction that looked no different than the rest of the field to the earth boy.

"Caves?" Marco rubbed his arm, "This isn't another look for a sandwich. Is it?"

"No Marco." she sighed. "I'm really sorry about that."

He didn't mean to remind her of that. He wanted to say something but she bounced back, as perky as ever.

"Oh look Marco" she physically turned him around. "Tiresias is setting."

He watched as a saturn like planet hid out of sight, just across the horizon.


	7. Chapter 7

Tea was nice when you wanted to talk to an old friend but to be honest Angie didn't really know Star's friend that well. She was a bit quiet, but not in a meek way. Angie could deal with shy. A fact that surprise many but she was mellow enough to let someone out of their shell at their own pace. Though she had to confess that she usually ended being quite the bad influence towards her more passive friends. Some people would be surprised to know that her husband was actually quite the wallflower when he was younger.

Hekapoo wasn't shy. At least she didn't give off that demeanor and that from Angie's experience, if someone weren't talking because they were afraid to then they weren't talking because they didn't want to. That made things a bit awkward. It also left the question of 'if she didn't want to talk to her then why was Hekapoo here?'.

"Is the tea alright?"

"It's fine."

"I could get something to eat." Angie pointed to the general direction of the kitchen, "I have some crackers lying around. They go well with earl grey."

"Don't get up on my account."

"I'll just go grab them. Could go for a snack."

Hekapoo made a grunt. Enough noise to let Angie know that the girl heard and understood her.

Angie skipped towards the kitchen. The trip was a bit quicker than the mother had liked. She found herself procrastinating, getting a nice plate. It was a tough decision between yellow and blue, but the former spoke to her more. It also went well with her guest's choice of clothing. She even went out of her way to spread the snack very nicely into a pyramid like display.

She returned a minute later. There was only one minute less that the two had to wait until they could reasonably start cooking dinner and Hekapoo was still blankly looking at the television screen that she have left running.

She had put on something she thought that a teenage girl would like. Star had enjoyed it, though that could be partly because of her general excitable personality and partly because Marco was the one she watched it with. Her charge might actually be the exception instead of the rule.

Angie actually hated the film. It was actually a part of her husband's collection and while she never hid how she felt about the movie, her son unfortunately inherited his father's taste.

It wasn't like she was a film critic. The camera looked nice and the music was okay, but every time she actually put effort into focusing on the plot, she realized that the whole thing was melodramatic. The characters motivation didn't match up with their actions, to the point that they did things that actively made things harder on themselves. No one had chemistry with each other, Angie wasn't even sure if the heroine shared a single scene with her love interest before the two 'fell so deeply in love.'

She could enjoy a romance movie, she just couldn't enjoy this one. Everything about it was just so "Stupid."

Angie blinked. That wasn't her voice.

The mother turned to her young guest. The demoness looked back at her. Hekapoo's pinched her nose. The hand then slip upwards to her forehead and she rubbed her temples, "I'm sorry but this is just way too dumb."

The red haired otherworlder avoided Angie's gaze, "Just like this girl keeps on making the biggest deal out of- and these guys are all over the- I'm pretty sure that one guy straight out changes actors at one point."

Hekapoo struggled to finish a thought. She was halfway to pointing out one issue she found in the film when another would just popped in her head. She did the only thing she could think of, rant.

Angie took it with the biggest grin. Not because she agreed. She did, the film was trash but because she could use this. "They did?"

Hekapoo blinked.

"Change actors?" Angie clarified, "I'm going to be honest with you. I find this movie just so bland. The thing has never been able to keep my attention long enough for me to really notice."

Hekapoo grinned.

"Isn't it great?"

"Ya." he couldn't really find the words to describe the sight of the planet as it lowered. Beautiful? Amazing? Magnificent? Those could work. It was just so big and the sun reflect off of Tiresias as it went, giving it the imagine of a comet that Marco could almost swear was really falling to earth.

He was tempted to bring out his phone but the lighting was not something he could catch digitally, nor did he have the time because soon the planet was gone. He wondered if he ran for it if he could catch up with the satellite. "It's nothing like Old Youthful but I think it's just as good."

Marco let out a small smile. Leave it Star to put as something as mundane as a geyser on the same level as whatever that beautiful sight was. He regretted his brief moment of doubt. The view alone was worth it.

"I got to see it a lot as a tiny butterfly. This is actually this is a kind of traditional royal camp site, started by my great greatgreatgreat-" the princess let out a few more 'greats' until just before she lost fingers to count off on, "grandmama."

She lead him away from the landing zone. It was a bit of a walk. As they got closer the trail started to become visible and noticeably more steep upwards. "To be honest, it's great being out of that stuffy classroom for a day and this way we have way more time to explore."

As they started to go up the path turned into steps. Rough stone which looked they were improvised into stairs.

"Sorry I couldn't get closer. This whole place is rigged with some crazy security." Star pointed upwards towards the top of the hill. Marco saw a lantern like post, black steel with a blue light that you could see through the glass.

"Tramorfidian crystal" She explained.

Marco held that word before, "Like in Saint O's?"

"Yup. There are a whole bunch of them up there. Janks up the scissors." Star hooked her arm around her friend's. "Come on. We're almost there."

He allowed himself to be pulled upwards. He felt that if he was a bit shorter that she would practically be whisking him through the air. It was easy to forget with how small she looks that Star was several leagues stronger than he was.

Marco had expected a plateau next to the crystal. He also got a bad case of vertigo when they reached the top and he got a good look downwards. It looked like a colosseum or an impact site. The same rough steps went downwards to the center. Marco intended to take a step forward. He was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

Arms flew through the air as Marco balanced himself. Star looked apologetic "Sorry Marco. Have to do something real quick."

Star picked up a stick and chucked it underarm in the air. The stick fell apart before it hit the ground. Sawdust.

Marco felt a lump in his throat. He tried to push it down.

Star bent down at the base of the lantern. There was a matching black chest. "Sorry. Something my family set up. Don't know why. No one really comes around here."

Star traces her fingers against the chest until they rested next to a keyhole, "Just gotta open this baby up and pour some of this powder on us and we'll be good to go."

She reached into her bag. The magical property of the sack allowing her to stuff her whole arm in, "Where is that key. I know it's here somewhere."

"What is this place?" Marco got on one knee, going eye level to Star.

"Oh, just the camp site." Star continued to wrestle with her bag. "and some old caves. At least I never found anything else. Don't know why this was all set up."

Marco looked at the chest. He place his hand on top and just as a test, he pushed against it. It opened.

Star blinked. The key now in her hand. She found it a little bit late for it to be useful. "That's not suppose to happen."

"Did someone forget to unlock it?" Marco suggested.

Star shrugged and he shrugged back.

Inside the chest was a clump of green dust. The mewman took a handful and dump it on the both of them.

Dusting off her dress, she stood and took a quick hop onto the first step pass where Marco guessed the force field was. He took a leap of faith and made his own hop, with some tickling at the most. Grades above falling apart like the twig did.

There was another black chest on the inside. "This one is open too."

That didn't really have a lot of meaning to Diaz but the fact that his best friend took the time to point that out made him ponder.

"I'll close it on the way out." she took one last look at the box before hopping down once more. "I've never been here without my parents before."

He could guess that the first stop was the center. A flat stone platform. There were many stairways like the one they were descending that led down to it. Other then that were openings that slope down from that platform.

These didn't have steps from as far as Marco could see. On the other hand these slopes were both far down and poorly lit. "You used to camp here?"

"Ya in one of the baby tunnels." he could clearly tell that she was thinking of something boring, "Between some statues of grandma Festiva and grandma Solaria."

Star hopped "And mom never let me do anything around here unless I was in her sight and let me tell you that mom never wanted to move far while she supervised me. I never understood how she could just sit around and find it fun."

She twirled as she took hop.

"Dad however taught me everything here. Monster fighting, swimming-" Star paused, "Well mostly those two things, but what else to do when you have a bunch of sea serpents just swimming around waiting to be kicked."

"Sounds like fun." Marco couldn't really judge. Fighting was one of his favorite activities to relax as of his first encounter with the princess.

They picked a random tunnel and went straight ahead. Marco's suggestion. Star had admitted this was her first time here alone and as far as the earth boy could tell there were no maps and no directions. It wasn't as if they could scissor out of the cavity if they got lost. Not with the ground's defense measures in place.

As least they didn't have to worry about where they were going. Star had originally used her wand as a touch. Casting fire from the top that lit the caverns and felt hot but strangely enough didn't transfer heat down to the rest of wand as far as Marco could tell. Star, at least didn't complain about her hand burning.

This idea ended quickly. The walls had embedded in them crystals that lit up in the presence of the wand's magic. First from the torch spell that Star had cast, but with a little experimentation they found that the crystals lit up no matter what the spell was. It didn't even had to be a spell, just Star summoning the magic from her family heirloom seem to be enough to illuminate the crystals.

They were much brighter then the torch was.

"Was these always here?" Marco turned to Star.

She shrugged "I guess."

"You guess?"

"I didn't have my wand before." Star waggled the artifact in the air as if she was lazily conjuring a spell. Another crystal lit up, allowing more visibility ahead of them.

"Before?" Marco tilted his head.

Star lazily answered, "Ya, before."

"Like 'before your fourteenth birthday?" Marco pressed.

Star let out a laugh. He wasn't even close, "Try 'before my tenth birthday.'"

"You haven't been here since you were nine?" Marco looked at the ground as they hiked, "What about your folks?"

"I don't think so." Star looked upwards in recollection, "I think dad got bored of this place after a while. That's kind of his thing. Master one place, go to the next challenge. Mom never really looked like she was having fun, which is weird cause she's the one always made sure we got here."

The two of them continued to march. Marco's eyes never left the ground as they moved forward. He parted his lips and then closed them. Star stared at him and while she wasn't completely sure of it, she might've seen a bead of sweat roll from his forehead.

After a moment Marco spoke again, "Do they ever send someone. Like to check up on the place."

"I don't think so." Star returned quickly, this time expecting query, "Marco, what's up with all the questions?"

"There's footsteps." Marco answered.

Star tilted her head to the side.

The earth boy pointed to the ground, "There's footsteps. We're been following them for like the last two minutes."

There were a trail of footsteps that followed both Star and Marco but there were another pair. The steps started way behind the two friends, barely recognizable after being trampled on but they were clear as day in front of them.

There were two different paths ahead. One went straight and the footprints continued to the other way.

Star looked at Marco.

Marco looked at Star.

"I think we should follow them."  
"I think we should turn back."

"Star, who's ever there, shouldn't be. Hell, I'm not sure if we should be here." Marco started to turn around.

Star grabbed his arm, ensuring he would only make a 369 degree spin, "that is why we have to see who it is. This whole place is mewni ground, Marco. Catching intruders has to be like a royal duty."

Star held up her wand, "By decree of Star Butterfly, I say that we kick their butts."

"Star. You haven't been in here without your dad and that was five years ago."

"So?"

"What if we get lost?"

Star smiled, "Boo, I got us covered."

Before Diaz could roll his eyes and the improvised pet name a spark of magic radiated from Star's family heirloom. The spark turned to light which materialized a ball of yarn.

Marco inspect the sewing tool. Star grabbed it and tied the tip around her pinky before dropping it back on the ground. Taking the flat of her wand she patted the side of the ball, "Go on, right that way."

The yarn started to roll. It traveled back in the direction of the entry way, unraveling the whole way. Star showed him her pinky where the string was still attached.

He couldn't really argue with that.

"Sparkle, Ten Shades of Off White, Play Along?" As DVD covers were shuffled, Hekapoo grew more and more desperate to find a movie that was actually worth watching.

"Bad, Worst and well-" Angie thought about it, causing confusion in her guest. "Do you want to know a foolproof way to tell if you're tired? Put that movie on. If you laugh then you're not thinking straight."

Hekapoo laughed, not caring when she ended up letting out a snort.

"My boys. You could get them to watch a documentary about dentistry as long as there was some romance in it." Angie held a plate between her thumb and index. With her other hand she lifted her cup of tea from the surface, bringing it to her lips.

Hekapoo shook her head, "Really no taste."

"I can't really complain about it. My husband is a pure romantic." Mrs Diaz return the cup to the plate and placed it down on the table. "I mean he can go overboard sometimes but I can't say that I don't love how he pampers me."

"And Marco?" Hekapoo wondered.

"Oh my little man. Hasn't had much luck." Angie didn't sound to sad about it, more amused. "Though that's partly because he's so shy. Been hung up on his friend for so long, since Kindergarten. He was so happy when he finally asked her out the other day."

She at the time had hoped that he would be blunt about it like any other boy would at the age of five. Like give her a daisy or something that kids find cute and they would hold hands for a week before they got tired of each other or she would call him gross and he'd be sad for a day. Either was expected and part of her was scared that holding off on asking the girl out for so long would backfire. She was happy it didn't.

"I bet he was." Hekapoo stated. It wasn't a question, she spoke as if she had met the boy.

Angie's eyes widened, "Oh, I didn't really ask. You know Marco right?"

"I've met him." the mistress of scissors often a shallow statement.

"I shouldn't be surprised. He and Star are particularly attached at the hip." The mother of the house patted her hip, trying to emphasize her point.

"Right." Were they? Hekapoo honestly didn't pay much attention to the young heiress. She hadn't even met her until the day that Marco left her dimension.

"Are you all getting along?"

There was a flash of a smirk that she had to wrangle down. "Ya, we get along just fine."

"That's good. Marco hasn't always had the easily time making friends. He has a couple at school, though with them I've always felt that he was always sort of the third wheel." There was a tea kettle between the two woman which Angie picked up. "Not to say that he was lonely. We usually take in others like Star."

Hekapoo offered her cup to her host and watched as the mistress of the house filled it up.  
"Exchange students. I don't think there's anyone else like Star. We had a lot of kids in this house, but none of them ours."

Angie then started to refill her own cup, "I think he was about to call it quits after last time. He just got tired of having to say goodbye. Like he was going to make a promise to himself that whoever walk in next he would just avoid."

She threw in a sugar cube.

"Than Star came in and well-" Angie paused and just smiled. "You don't really ignore Star. That just causes property damage."

A second cube fell in and was stir in with a thin spoon, "So he just decided he wasn't going to get attached only to get tangled up with a princess."

The plate was lifted and the host blew on the steam as it rose up from the tea, "Sorry, I'm just rambling."

"Hey don't let me stop you from getting whatever that was off your chest." Hekapoo learned before.

"I don't even know why I started talking about all this." The woman took a quick sip, "It's not like I have all the time in the world to yap your ear off."

Hekapoo waved away the argument, "Relax, it's not even time for lunch."

It wasn't. Angie could confirmed from a clock hung up on the wall that it was only a little but after twelve. "You really want me to just go on and on about my son?"

"If you want to." Hekapoo shrugged.

"Really?" If anything Angie's curiosity was flaring up, "How come?"

"Curiosity, that's all." Hekapoo brought her own cup, hiding her mouth "I don't really have anything to do."

"I think I can come up with some better topic." The host offered.

The guest deflected, "You don't have to trouble yourself."

"We could watch another movie." Mrs Diaz countered.

"I'd think I rather talk about dryer lint." Hekapoo blenched.

Angie elaborated, "One from my collection, not my husband's."

"That's alright, you said you wanted to rant. You should rant." The redhead spoke, sounding a bit more excited that she had meant to.

Angie paused and fought off a smile of her own. She leaned forward and squinted at the chalk white girl, "You really want to hear about my son?"

"I said 'if you wanted to'" The commissioner explained.

"No I do, but do 'you' want to hear about him?" The woman of the household held her ground.

"Do whatever." A noncommittal reply.

"I think I have a film you'd like." Angie started to rise from her seat.

She turned away from her quest and started to wander away from her.

"Fine. I want to." The demoness cried out, "I want to hear about Marco."

Diaz continued walking.

"I said 'I-'"

Angie's smile couldn't been seen from where Hekapoo was sitting, but she still felt it. "I'll be back in a moment. I have to find the photo albums."

"Star, where are we?" The cave walls became more dense as the followed the footsteps, until they fitted together like stone bricks. The trail turned from indentation in the dirt to muddy footprints.

Star stared at the ceiling as the pair wandered along, "I don't know"

"And why does it smell like someone's shed?"

There were some 'things' covered by drapes stacked tightly against the walls. The cover were tied down with rope.

Marco hesitated for a moment before undoing the knots. The binds fell to the ground and the boy waited, seeing if anything would happen. Nothing did.

He turned to his best friend and they shared a glance. Next the dape fell, "Cornmeal?"

Sack on top of sack, just laying there. The top bag leaked down the golden grain and Diaz extend his hand allowing it to pile up. "It's warm?"

"Marco look." The drape was pulled up from the ground by the mewian princess. She twisted it around until the other side was facing her friend. Contrasting the purple cloth was silver lines. The whole thing looked like a child's blanket. "I think this might be enchanted."

"You would know more then I would." he agreed apathetically.

The magical girl folded the cloth into a square and flung it over her shoulder. It was tied like a cape around her. It looked heavy to Marco but it didn't seem to bother the girl who kept over effortlessly even though the blanket fell past her feet like a robe.

"Looking good." Marco gave her a thumbs up and the blonde responded in with a giggle.

A crash was heard echoing in from the yet unexplored ends of the corridor.

"Come on." Star hushed her companion and grabbed his hand guiding him to sneak with her. The hall ended with a obviously man made doorway and as they approached, Star lowered her wand stopping the object's magic from activating the lights.

The two of them crouched down behind the opening, looking in for intruders. Against the walls there were shadows, the source of them were around the corner.

"Did you really have to drag me here?" One of the shadows spoke, "Drag me all the way to this hole?"

The voice was female in pitch and wicked in tone.

"Sorry madam, but I'm afraid that there are no other facilities that I could use of and I afraid that anything I cook here would be ice cold by the time I could reach by the time I reached the bottom of the trail." Another shadow piped in. This was was voice was polite but rough, "You did request of me a freshly cooked dish."

"I did." the first shadow relented, "But that doesn't mean you can take your time."

Star squeezed Marco's hand and then let go. When he looked at her, she signaled him to charge in after her. At least that what he assumed she was doing as when she was done with her mimicry, she stood up.

"Nothing but rubble and spiderwebs" as the shadow spoke, the two friends were moving in.

"If it was up to me, renovations would be a foot, the location isn't so bad." The friends moved slowly at first but as the distance closed between them and their targets they started to move their feet quicker.

"Oh who am I kidding? I've always hated this place." The end of the sentence was a signal. The two let out battle cries as they leaped in action.

Star went low, the robe restricted her movements a bit but she was still about to charge forward with her shoulder. She was rewarded with some nice recoil when she did strike something.

Macro complimented her royal heiress' tactic by jumping above, stretching his footing into a kick. He was able to land on his feet when there turned out to be no target in his path. He spun on his heel, examining their opponents.

The figure that Star struck down was some weird goblin dude. Well dress, if suits were your thing (which for Marco they weren't), but still very lumpy looking. The lump cowered in front of the princess who stood above him, waiting for the thing's next move.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Miss Heinous?" Marco didn't let down his guard as he took a step back.

"Miss Heinous?" There was still a small bit of primal fear that the princess felt from that name, as she like many others once feared being sent to Saint Olga's school. That plus the pure unluckiness of the headmistress and she could only stare at the woman standing in the dark.

Miss Heinous stood before them, her nose up in the air and holding an scaly green arm the way one would hold a wine bottle.

"Do I know you?" She grumbled.

"Yes madam" There was a loud voice. "There's two are the ruffians who-"

She stopped in with a loud series of shushes all while one hand massaged her temples, "Quiet Gemini, can't you see that I am trying to concentrate."

She glided over towards the hunchback as he started to work his way back to his feet. She pushed him back down and he flailed about like a turtle knocked onto it's shell. "I think I might know where I have seen these two before."

The hag's hands shot forward into her assistant's jacket and she started to dig around the inner skitching of the article of clothing. Eventually she pulled out an object which she presented to the two kids.

It was a doll, brown skin, brown hair with a purple dress.

"A doll?" Star titled her head.

Miss Heinous looked at the toy and then towards Marco. She stepped to the side and once again compared the two, "Just as I expected. I didn't think I'd find you here, Princess Marco, but I'm not complaining."

The woman squeezed and the doll's head popped, falling to the side. She dropped the whole mess and stepped over it. Her servant reached towards the fallen toy but in his state, it took him a good while before he could muster the strength to flip himself over.

"They sell Princess Marco dolls?" Star looked at her housemate, "I didn't know they sold Princess Marco dolls."

Diaz relaxed his arms an inch, "There's a lot you don't know about me."

"Silence" The woman howled at them, "And stand still as I dissemble your precious organs from your skeleton."

"How are you planning on doing that?" The woman looked like she would fold against a light wind.

"And how exactly did you and your creepy butler get in here?"

"I simply felt a bit famished" She responded without actually having answered the question.

They were in some kind of kitchen. There were tables with knives, bowls and other utensils scattered on top of them. Stone squares that Star would recognized but Marco could only guess was the magical equivalent to a electronic oven. Runes lit up on it side leading to a controlled fire on top. Pots and pans hung from the ceiling and what caught the earth boy's eye was a series of conveyor belts that moved towards several holes that drop below into complete darkness.

"Now these has been just lovely" There was a moment of false joy that gave way to a scowl, "But I really need to get on with destroying you."

"Gemini" she called.

"Gemini" The man was down on his knees scooping the dolls between his palms.

"Don't make me have to say it again." She looked down at him.

He looked up at her, his mouth gaped as she brought up her wrist and snapped.

There was a red spark that shot from her thumbs to the minion and the man became possessed. His arms gasping the air in front of him, begging for the teens' throats.

"Oh please-" Star smirked. As the dual joined together as they prepared for battle, "What exactly can this guy do?"

As the lump shoot forward, he didn't so much as stop as he grabbed Marco and hurled him across the room. Marco bounced against the wall and the hunchback leaped after him, landing with a thump onto the teen's back.

"Apparently a lot." Star mumbled.

"Star" Diaz cried out as the trollish man scratched at his scalp. "Help."

"I'm coming Marco." Star clenched her wand with both arms as she held it up, parting her purple robe, "Butterfly Walrus Sparkle-"

There was a flash of light that covered the room and Star stopped her spell.

"What are you doing" Miss Heinous shrieked, "You can't cast something that big here. You'll overload the crystals."

The light died down and from what Butterfly could see Marco was still losing the fight against the seemingly harmless man, who was now flinging him around by his ankles.

Star stared at the crystal on the walls and then looked back at the battlers. Then back at the ground.

She smirked, "Overloading it huh?"

She held her wand back up and called out, "Marco close your eyes."

The light returned once again, brighter than ever. Filling the room for a moment with a pure silver glow. The hunchback yelped and released her friend into the air as he covered his eyes. Star made her move, she rushed forward and swung her favorite instrument of destruction right into the minion's jaw.

He fell like a rag doll, doing a flip before falling into one of the many pits that was in the room for unknown purposes.

The princess felt pride as she held out her arms and her best friend landed gently in them. "You're alright?"

"Okay as I could be." She allowed him to stand and the boy dusted himself off. "What was with that guy?"

Star chose to save the question for later. She turned to the former headmistress "And you. Danking around with girl's heads wasn't enough for you? Now you're sneaking around my family's camp? No one sneaks around here without permission but me."

"Ya lady, what you're doing is hella illegal. You're going down." Marco dunked one hand.

"Really?" The hag raised one eyebrow. "And you're so sure that you are not?"

"Being grounded for a week for trespassing won't even compare with what my parents will do with you."

The old woman's face broke into a twisted grin, "Not what I meant."

"What are you talking ab-" Marco yelled as something caught his foot. A claw wrapped around it l. They hadn't seen the end to the henchmen's wrath. He dug into the stone with his fingers, pulling himself up.

The earth teen let his arm's flutter around as he tried to resist the grip.

"Marco!" Star shouted and she brought her boot down onto the claw that was dug into the rock. With that the only thing hoisting the disfigured man up was gone and he starting to fall bringing her companion along.

Star flung her arm and linked herself with his. She bend down, trying to make use of her upper strength, "I got you."

And with some strain he started to move back up in the kitchen's surface.

"Whoopies." A woman spoke behind Star. Miss Henious bumped the girl with her hip and the princess lost her balance.

"How clumsy of me. I usually stride to teach better poise." the woman said in a manner that even if the teens could hear they would not be fooled.

What they did hear as they fell down was the cackling.


	8. Chapter 8

Star hurt. Like training with the kingdom's guards hurt, going three rounds with a gang of monsters barefisted hurt, having to sit through math class hurt. That last one was probably an exaggeration considering how truly painful Earth's education system could be.

Star did struggle after she did wake up to rise. Instead she clawed around herself, hoping to grip something to pull herself up. Only thing around was that sweet cape she picked up from the floor above and some more cloth attach to some heavy object.

A heavy object that groans. A heavy object that sounded a lot like someone she knew, "Marco?"

Her eyes pulled open but she couldn't tell the different. Either way all she could see was black. She held up her wand and felt. She felt some a sliver of magic that surrounded her instrument and lit something.

There was a crystal, similar to the ones from before but this one instead was stuck in the ground like a light post. It gave her enough light to make out the boy. He was clean with no sign of blood on his face. He was okay, "Marco."

The blonde princess shook him and in return he let in a deep breathed. He coughed and regulates his breathing, "Star?"

He cracked his eyes open and caught sight of a shy smile.

"Miss Henious." he frowned and jumped to his feet. He adopted a stance. "Where's that creep of her's?"

Star met her back to his and the partners looked around but couldn't make sight of their enemy around the perimeter that the crystal's light provided for them.

"You're stepping on him" a raspy whisper came out from underneath their own noses.

Kneejerk reflexes lead the Diaz boy's foot to striking the goblin's side. He went tumbling forward. The duo regrouped, readying themselves against any possible assault.

"Please I beg you, no more." the man pleaded.

"Dude, I don't know if you noticed but you just flung us down a hole." Marco accused the man.

"I was only trying to follow my lady's orders." The man pushed off the ground but his arms were skinny. His overall strength betraying the actions of a man who was justing tossing Marco around, "You must understand that I would not have engage in such roughhousing under my own volition."

Star relaxed her guard as the man's arms gave out and he fell on the floor once again. She reached out to the minion slowly. There was a tug on her other arm.

She turned her head around. Marco was holding on to her hand. He shook his head, "Don't"

There was an exchange if looks and the earthling groaned.

Marco threw her hand away and Star bent down to assist the one eyed man up, "I got you."

"Thank you kindly miss." It sounded like he really meant the gratitude. "You don't know how much this means to me."

"Well try to remember that next time you slam me against a wall." Marco crossed his arms.

If the hunchback heard the boy's comment than he chose to ignore it, "Where are we dear?"

Star's eyes wandered the area but even with the light that the crystal provided there was very little in the way of visibility, "I don't know."

She raised her wand and there was pink sparks which shot off from the wand, dying before they reached the ground. There lit another crystal, a light post like the last. Then another and another. Light travelled down the void. The crystals were erected in two lines parallel to each other, creating a path.

What could be seen were pillars and steps that started going up in front of them but nothing else. There was still much of the room still shrouded in darkness. It was more thanks to how massive the room must've been then how little light the crystals were admitting.

"There're stairs this way." Star gestured, "First step outta here is to go up."

Marco held her back and he looked at Gemini, "You first."

"Oh right. Thank you, how polite." The man spoke cheerfully, despite the look in Marco's eyes containing no politeness. At least not towards him specifically.

"Are you sure about this Star?" he staged whispered in the princess's' ear. Panic stood as an obstacle of him trying to keep the lumpy man from hearing him, "That guy dragged us down here and then suddenly he's all buddy buddy."

"I might be taking a bit of a risk." Star agreed, "but he's a bit too sad to be a real bad guy. Flailing around like some little turtle man."

"This guy's dangerous, Star."

"Come on Marco, we've made friends with sketchy people before." Star reassured him.

"Like who, Lobster Claws?" It was a bit hard to bring up, but Marco has learned to be a bit less trusting over the year.

"No, like Bullfrog." The princess countered leaving her friend without a rebuttal as she skipped after the newest member of their adventuring party. Diaz followed reluctantly behind her.

Their footsteps seem to track miles. They went up the stairs over to run into a hallway. At the end of the hallway was more stairs that led downwards. They went both left and right some passages. Marco had a sneaky suspicion that they they had passed through some of the halls a couple of times.

They only has the strategy of going up until they reach the surface but with the twist and turns there was no way to tell if that actually got them any closer to an exit. For all they knew they on whatever floor they began on, maybe even lower underground, "Star how long do you think this'll take us?"

It wasn't as if they had all day exactly. Though considering how free ranged his folks were they wouldn't worry as long as he got home until dinner.

"Not too long." She looked around. One hallway looking not too different than another. Star bit her lower lip, "I think."

This was obviously going to take some time and there wasn't much Marco could do but follow the his friend and their suspicious guest. He guessed that he could continue to keep an eye on the hunchback man, but for however long they had been trudging along it was enough that Marco was bored waiting for Gemini to show signs of betrayal.

At least there was artwork that lined the ways. Colored titles forming scenes of action and adventure. They were nice to look at. One that Marco liked was one particular piece featuring a bald headed woman in heart shaped armor fighting off a towering monster.

The monster looked like some sort of manticore. It had the lion head and sharp bat like wings that a manticore would have. The similarities ended there. Instead of lion like claws that a manticore would have, this monster had serpents head's jetting out from it's wrist. Five from each arm arranged in a way that you could imagine each one as fingers. Final weird detail that would definitely not be on a manticore was the long face that was grafted onto the monster's chest. It looked human. Probably wouldn't look abnormal if it wasn't replacing some manticore pecs.

Marco would say that the design was rad. He would take a picture of the wall if he wasn't in such a dire situation or if he wasn't missing his phone.

This was just not his day.

"So." The princess of Mewni broke the silence that had grown among the group, "Gemini?"

"Yes m'am?" The man marched on, giving a little waddle as he moved. He showed no signs of exhaustion even though it must take him twice the effect to match their speed with his nubby little legs.

"Hows the…" whole going homeless thing going for you? Was that what she was going to ask? She couldn't imagine how awkward that would be.

"How was…" brainwashing all those girls? Couldn't really ask that either.

"What do you do for fun?" Star finished. She took a brief second to congratulate herself for thinking of a harmless question for the short man.

"Oh not much of anything these days."

The answer was brief but Star was determined to bring life into the conversation, "Oh come on. There gotta be something you like to do."

"I'm afraid that I'm too old to move about and do much of anything." Star wanted to mention how he didn't seem to have trouble with motion currently nor did he have much trouble going toe to toe with a much longer teen.

"Well If I do have the chance," the man relented, "I do enjoy listening to a bit of music."

"Oh what kind of music?" Star pressed on. She then shook her head and dug into her purse. "Nevermind nevermind. I'm gonna play something. Tell me what you think."

 _Space unicorn, soaring through the stars._

The music bounced echoed against the walls from the small electronic device in Star's hand.

Gemini blinked, or maybe he blinked. Star couldn't really tell because of the strange glowy eye piece that he wore. He paused either way and then gave a hearty laugh. "Oh what a delightful jingle."

"Wait wait wait. Since when did you have my cell phone?" Diaz stepped between the two.

"Since this morning." Star answered. He should've known considering this wasn't exactly the first time she had borrowed the device. One day he really had to see if he could sign her up for something. Like a prepaid phone or whatever.

Marco slipped the cell from his best friend's hands. "We should call someone."

"I already tried that Marco." He dialed in his home phone anyway and proved Stat correct, "I think it might be the crystal. Normally I can get a signal as long as it's on the same plane as my wand but right now it's getting nothing. "

"When did you-?" When did she try out the reception? Marco was sure that he stuck by her the entire time

"When you went to the bathroom, couple halls back. My compact isn't getting a signal neither."

"Great." He muttered, the sarcasm dripping from his mouth. That made sense. There wasn't exactly time for a bathroom break earlier and if this place had facilities they haven't found it yet. Meaning Marco had to skip over a hallway to answer the call of nature. "So we're lost and we can't call anyone. I almost wish we could blast our way out."

"We can't do that Marco. This place has been in my family for who knows how long." Star backed up against the walls as if to defend them against Marco's gaze, "Mom and dad would kill me if they found out I put a hole in our camp site."

"Easy Star. I want to avoid unwarranted destruction as much as the next guy." He assured his friend. "I'm just a bit worried about getting home by dinner."

"Relax. We'll get home before school is even out."

Diaz could've argued that as far as they knew that school was already over. His phone wasn't picking anything up and so it's clock just stuck at 9, the time he had to guess that they entered the range of the dang crystal that kept them from escaping via scissors.

He guessed that Star was correct in a way because eventually they came to a door. Not a fancy looking door, just a stone one with a groove on one side. It had taken him a bit to realize that it was even a door, but when Star gripped the indent and it began to slide, he knew.

There hadn't been any doors at all in the lower realms of the royal campsite. Just long hallways, dead ends and the occasional stairway. There was always a bit of water on the ground. Sometimes it was just a moist floor and other times it reached up to his ankles. Right now there was a door, just there out in the open. Being a door.

"Oh right. The cave." His arms shot up in the air. What he could see was the dark top floor of the rough rocky interior suggested that they were soon out of the labyrinth and on their way home safe.

Of course they weren't that lucky.

As he walked over to the door the ground shook. The door slide along the wall, dust shooting out from it's frame. There wasn't anytime to slide through and before anyone knew what was going on the doorway was sealed off.

The hallway broke apart. Tiles disconnected from tiles and soon the party found themselves being spun around. They felt weightless, like they were in an elevator going down.

"Is everyone alright?" Gemini's words acted as a signal that whatever was happening to the dungeon had ended. When they looked around they found that the hallway had completely morphed from how it was seconds ago.

"Come on. Are we ever going to get out of here?" Marco didn't know exactly when he had sat down, but his butt was on the cold floor with his back firmly against a wall. He was a little bit shaken but felt good enough to complain at least.

Star lent him her arm and pulled her friend up. "It's okay, We just got to look around a bit more."

Marco would've held more faith in that statement if Star hadn't looked away from him. One arm crossed over and she rubbed her palm against her bicep.

He relented, letting out a deep sigh. Diaz looked around the newly generated halls, "Which way should we go?"

"Why don't we ask Gemini?" Star looked behind Marco.

Diaz rolled his eyes, "Why would we ask Gemini? He probably knows as much about this place as we do."

"Cause he's sure acting like he knows which way to go." She pointed at the hunchback who had long began to wander off. "Look at him go, waddling like a little penguin."

Gemini moved along the hall, moving an impressive distance considering how short his legs were. There was a quick stroke of the chin as the servant found something of interest in the tiled walls of the maze. "Interesting"

He placed his claws onto the wall and pressed, "Very interesting."

There was a spark of some sort which snapped between his fingers, but he didn't retreat his appendage. He adjusted the thing on his face. Neither Marco nor Star knew what it was exactly. His monocle? His visor? Maybe it was actually his eye. Whatever it was he gave it a twist and just stared at the wall.

"What's that?" Star peeked over the shoulder of the gremlin and got a glimpse at what was so intriguing. Gemini's hand was spreading the tiles apart, revealing nothing but bright volts which seem to hold the very walls together.

"Security and I believe it'll tell us exactly where we need to go." Gemini answered before signalled towards a direction, "Please follow me madams."

"I'm not a-" Marco stopped himself. As much as he liked the admiration of princesses everywhere, there were still some downsides to being universally known as Princess Marco. He's just learned to accept some things about traveling dimensions at this point.

The second journey didn't seem much different than the last attempt except this time around the old man would press against the walls every other time they turned the corner. It almost seemed as if he was communicating with the structure itself. Maybe he was. Marco and Star have both seen stranger things by this point. A sentient building weren't top the list of peculiar events.

They didn't really understand what exactly was going on, but it sure beat out covering their eyes and picking a direction at random, if only by a margin. Marco didn't really trust Gemini. He couldn't say why. He just had to hope that even if the man did have some diabolic trap waiting for the duo that he would wait until they were on the surface to trigger it. Until then Diaz just had to have faith.

It felt as if the walking took hours, but unlike before there seem to be a steady progress that wasn't there before. Gemini would look at one path and shake his head before choosing another. Maybe he was eliminating the options some how. It didn't matter, after every path was taken the hall glowed brighter.

"So what exactly is this mumbo jumbo that you're doing with the walls?" Star hurried her pace. Her nose peeked over the henchmen. She watched as his claws traced against the wall.

Gemini didn't slow down, but still offered a small explanation, "Oh just honing a couple tricks I've learned from my magic studies. I noticed that this dilemma we seem to be in the center of takes a couple cues from a few tomes I've stuck my nose through."

"You study magic? I study magic." Star peeked up. Her face broke out in a sly smile. She playfully jabbed the man with her elbow, "I thought you said you didn't do anything for fun."

"I wouldn't really say that it's for fun." He didn't sound amused, "Just part of my duties under Miss Henious."

The lights weren't just the crystals anymore but the cracks between the tiles all seemed to start radiating a purple energy.

It was low at first, flickering on and off. The lights grew steady. Before they realized it the entire hall was covered in lines of purple which spread out like veins. These lines moved faster than they did, filling the cracks like overflowing water until the entire hall was bathed in the light.  
When all the could see were shades of purple the hallway broke apart.

They didn't notice it at first. It happened behind them and below them. A tile shifted away from them into a green void. Then two tiles, them ten, a hundred, and a thousand. The floor broke apart, but despite nothing being able to be seen underneath them their feet seem hit something solid that allow them to tread forward.

"Star." Marco was the first one to notice. He looked down and his legs felt weak, and his stomach felt heavy. He felt like he should be falling down below. He lunged forward and grabbed onto Star's shoulder as if it would stop gravity from affecting him if it finally started to kick in.

Gemini wasn't stopping so neither did she. The princess however did offer her companion a look and a shrug indicating that she was equally lost in this development.

The void was everywhere. The dimension around them was green, offset only by brighter shades clumped into balls. They were spread around and looked like the stars would in space.

The tiles ahead swam in formation. Following each other and working effortlessly to stay ahead of the trio. They congregated into a sphere shape, turning and dancing into various circles. They moved faster and faster and when they had reach their top speed Gemini had finally stopped his march.

The tiles collided, building into bricks until there were two solid slabs in front of the group. There was a hole side by side on each slab, large enough for a human hand. Gemini reached forward and grasped one of the grooves.

"Now I do believe that this right here might our way out." He pulled and the slabbed moved away from it's partner. Between the two stones light began to crack. "At least I sure hope it is."

The servant smiled nervously. Marco felt a lump in his throat which he hesitantly swallowed. Star however grabbed the other slab and help pull the two apart. Between them a opening in space was reveal.

Right a head was nothing or at least not an exit.

It was a room full of crystals. That was it.

The floor was crystals. The wall was crystals. There was a large crystal in the center that really brought the decor together. Just kidding, it was all pretty redundant. Even the centerpiece was just surrounded by five crystal pillars in a circle.

"Where are we?" Star stepped into the room. The floor was uneven. The crystal floor was high in some points, low in others, causing the tarp she had wrapped around her to drag and almost trip her more than once.

"I do not know." Gemini admitted. He walked towards one edge of the room. He placed his palm against the wall, "Madam, the crystal here is thin. I believe that if I can get through that we might be able to figure out exactly what this place is for."

"I can handle this." Marco studded over. In one swift moment he brought his hand to his chest and then nearly broke it against rock. He ended up hissing and thinking of a couple words that would be foreign to the two otherworlders but would cause anyone from earth to blush. It really hurt most in his pinkie, he went for the karate chop and it was not his smartest moment.  
The mewman walked to the boy's side and gentle guided him aside, "Marco maybe I should handle this."

He passively moved and allowed her the spot light. The princess tossed her wand and swung it in the general vicinity of the thin patch, "Hummingbird drills."

Her companions flinched, but unlike the crystals in the halls, these did not seem to absorb the magical energy to create light. Instead they just stood there being crystals. Shocks flew off Stat's wand and constructs appeared. You could call them hummingbirds, though Marco didn't know any type of hummingbird that was bright pink with blue patch. He didn't know any breed that had a steel drill instead of a beak neither.

The birds charged. They shot like bullets straight at the wall. They charged and accomplished absolutely nothing. If anything the little avians seem to just tire themselves out and bend their own bills. Eventually they stopped even trying, instead fluttering in place and exchanging looks amongst each other. Star eventually swatted her wand through them and they disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Star held her family's artifact with both hands like one would hold a sword. Her back was straight and legs were far apart, braced for impact. "100% Rainbow Concentrate Beam."

Seven lights shot from the face of the magical instrument. There were the seven colors of the rainbow. They collided in the dead center of the star, creating a white line from the wand to the crystal. Where the laser met the crystal started to dip down slowly, melting.

There were stone pillars that surrounded the main crystal but in turn the crystal seemed to also engulf the stone pillars to the point that Marco had to do a double take to even realise they were there. It was almost as if the mineral had grown around the obstacle like a plant would. He wondered what exactly this room looked like without the crystal covering everything.

"It's even better than I first imagine." Gemini smiled, "Do you see those runes? They might be the center of this labyrinth. If my memory serves me then they're as good as an exit out."

"Marco you hear that? One trip home coming right up."

Marco couldn't move his foot. It was snagged on something. Taking a peek at his heel, he noticed that it was ankle deep in crystal.

"Hey, what gives?" He shouted. He didn't know if he was sinking or if the mineral was rising up, but it didn't matter and he didn't want to be stuck in it long enough to find out, "Star, I can't move. My feet are stuck. The crystals."

Confused, the girl peeked down. "The crystals?"

Her own limbs were just as planted into the gem, which seemed to move just to her shin without her even realizing it. She looked at Gemini. The man checked his feet and they seemed fine. He allow a sigh of relief out but found that he couldn't move neither. At least not from the wall. His left hand which was pressed against the edge of the room was being imprisoned. The stone first covered his hand in a web like design and it was working to cover his hand entirely. "I think it might be imperative that we hurry up."

Star didn't even bother to show that she approves the action. She casted another spell and the beam grew stronger, double then triple it size before.

Her friend tried to pull his leg from the trap but he found that as he held his leg the crystal started to spread onto his fingers. He stood back up and scrapped the stone from the back of his fingers. Some of it peeled off like hot wax. The parts that he was able to get to quickly. The rest of it started to grow onto his hands, increasing the speed that it seem to devour him.

He yelled.

Star could see the faint glow from behind where she had been melting the gem. Writing that was mewman writing mixed with other languages. As the crystal met her stomach she began to panic. She reeled her wand back and the tool shifted into a large hammer. Using the strength gifted to her she began to strike at the runes with enough might that it shook the whole room.

She swung and swung until the crystal began to crack. The striking of the hammer made her ears ring. She didn't know if that was the reason why she could no longer hear her friends screams or if he had been covered completely.

Gemini wasn't in good shape. The stone had dropped down from his hand to both his feet. It covered most of his body leaving over his head, neck and left arm completely free.

The crystal started to cover Star's shoulders, spreading up her neck and arms. When it covered her mouth, she kept on swinging. When it covered her nose, she kept swinging. It covered her eyes. She didn't need to see where she was swinging.

Star gave one last hit before she stopped moving. The hammer receded back into the wand before it too was devoured by the jewels. The mace moved off from the wall and the small section broke off, crashing onto the ground.

Gemini was embedded in rock up to his forearm. With all the strength his frail body could provide, Gemini scratched the wall.

The teens were released from their tombs. The stones melted like wax. Star wanted to take a deep breathe in, but instead just went on a coughing fit. She could hear once again and knew that Marco was doing the same. Gemini's hand hung from the opening now in the crystal and pulled himself up, slipping out of his melting prison. He pressed his fingers against the rune and swiped crystal softened faster and before she knew it Star was completely free. She could even feel her toes wiggle in her boots.

"Sorry madam. If I had known that there had been such a diabolically contraption in this room-" Gemini huffed between his words.

"It's okay," Star didn't care much for him blaming himself and instead wanted the man to focus on allowing himself to breathe. "It's okay."

"Hekapoo?"

"Marco?" Star spun around, looking for her best friend. His voice came from behind one of the crystal pillars. Which wasn't really crystal any more. They met up with each other and Diaz pointed to the top. A stone statue rested there. A familiar woman with long hair and a flowing dress struck a fighting stance. She carried small blades in each hand as the sculpture mimicked charging against the large crystal in the middle.

"Madams I know I might have mentioned this before, but now I'm sure that these runes will allow us to escape. Just need a little time for all this muck to wash down and reveal the scripture." Gemini slide his palms against the walls. He could just make out bits and pieces of the writing behind the thick gemstone.

The other pillars became visible as the gem evaporated, revealing other figures. Some which Marco have seen during his visit with the mother of his child and some that he didn't recognize.

Star let out a puff of breath before grabbing onto Marco's sleeve. She pointed at one piece. There stood the stone figure of a bald warrior. She was in a roman skirt with a heart shape chest piece. She wielded a sword. At least Marco assumed it was a sword. It had a hilt like one but the artist whoever they were depicted the blade as a lightning bolt, "Hey look it's Grandma Solaris."

"Grandma?" Marco squeaked, raising an eye brow.

"Not like my mom's mom. She's more like my great great grand mom times a million." Star explained. "She's really important to Mewni's history. She was awesome. Like not just a great queen, but a kick ass general. Her reign was in a really dark time which she ended by killing a whole bunch of monsters."

She turned to Marco and he was just giving a look. Like he want to say something.

The princess turned away from her friend. She grabbed onto her arm. "Sorry."

"What?"

"I know that Mewni's whole stance against monsters puts you a little on edge."

Marco laughed, "No, It's just strange to hear you talk about history. You sleep through the whole chinese section back in class."

"That's because I don't know anything about Earth. This I grew up with." Star crossed her arms and pouted.

"What is that?"

There in the center of the room stood a silhouette. All that was visible was a black mess in the center of the diluted crystal, but as the room melted more details could be made out. Whatever it was it was hairy. Or maybe it wasn't. While they could make out large tufts of fur in some parts, in others they saw scales and leathery skin.

"Gemini do you know how to get out of here?" Marco shuddered.

"Almost" Gemini glided across the floor, following the symbols as they revealed themselves across the walls. "Just need a little bit more."

The creature had been standing on it's hind legs when it had been solidified. In fact it looked like it had been flexing its arms. It's biceps, pecs and neck would almost look human if it wasn't covered in thick green fur. It's head looked like a lion's, so did it's legs. Marco didn't know what was stranger. Was it the large face on the monster's gut which had a calm expression in comparison to the head on it's shoulders, the bat like wings, large enough to wrap itself with or the long serpents that shot out from it's wrist?

"Um Gemini."

"Sorry. Just hold on a moment." He zoomed to the end of the line. Watched as the crystal poured, revealing what was behind it, "It won't be much longer now."

"There is something in here."

There were soon so many cracks that there was no hope that the structure would hold in place. It was far too late for the henchman to reverse the process.

The manticore moved.


	9. Chapter 9

The crystal shattered and a roar surrounded them. Gemini's attention was finally aligned with his companions. The shards flew off the creature and melted in the air, raining down and sliding off of everything. It flapped it's wings swaying the now completely liquid gem on the ground.

"I am free." The manicore groaned and recoiled. It's mouth gaped revealing it's very large, clearly very sharp teeth. "Oh, my legs cramp. Legs cramp. I haven't moved them in-"

He stopped for a moment, "However long they had me trapped down here. I can barely move my fingers. I can just feel the blood slowly pumping back in."

The creature brought it's heavy limbs up towards his face. Sagging down limp were the four snake like monsters attached to his forearms. It looked genuinely concerned for a moment, "You boyz alright?"

The things looked dead or maybe just exhausted. One of the serpents made efforts to move it's eye and look directly at the head.

"Meh" it very effortless said.

"Very good. Very good." He began to shake his wrist. The many heads started to dance, less like the cracking of a whip and more like limp noodles, "Dance for me. Dance for me."

It eyes scanned the room and there were no time for the three to hide. It took a turn to stare at them each individually. It stepped forward, proving that moving upright was perfectly naturally for the monster. "Now you chums."

"Marco." Star cried. The boy tried to ready his defense but it was far too late for that. The serpents wrapped around his knees and he was flung up into the air.

"Star." He was caught by the other of the manticore's 'hands', hanging upside down by his ankle. "Hey let go of me."

"Thank you. You have no idea just how much this means to me. Let me tell you that going for so far without moving is just not healthy for you. I got a-" The manticore cranked it shoulder in a small circle. It hissed and stopped, "It feels like there's a ball in the back of my neck. I just can't like move it how I want without flinching. It's really bad."

Despite any debilitation that it claimed to have the manticore didn't hesitate to scoop up both the princess and the minion before they could even react. "I got to repay you blokes somehow."

Star couldn't even hold onto her wand, the serpents swung her at a 180 degree angle and the artifact were spun onto the floor.

They felt the joys of blood rushing to their heads as they were dangled. Star had the bonus of having both long hair and a sheet tied around her. Both submitted to gravity, obscuring her vision, "That's okay."

"Nah, no. I'll have you know that I repay my debts. Now what can I do for you?" The lion head looked absolutely insulted at the idea of not repaying them somehow, "Ah I know. I'll make you guys part of me crew. You can all be my visions."

The face on it's torso shifted. It's eyes shook and then opened. It looked upwards at both of the kids hanging, "I believe you mean viceroy."

"Right. Thanks stomach. Ya, you can all be one of those 'vices' thing." The lion looked down at it's gut. At first he looked confuse but he appreciated the other face piping in. "Course first we gotta conquer some hole first but we can figure out the when and the where later."

He spoke about conquest with the same casualty one would throwing a party.

"No, really we're kinda a bit tired with adventuring right." Marco said, a bit too enthusiastic.

Gemini agreed, "It seems in all good fun sir, but I'm afraid we're have to decline."

"Besides I'm already royalty. So that just seems a bit redundant." Star smiled. Well probably, couldn't really see her face with that blanket covering it.

"Oy really? What are you a duchess or somethin? Normally I find you types to be a bit unbearable but if you're out here 'ploring you can't be bad. Bit of the adventuring type of myself." The manticore smiled. He held her above his head, trying to get a peek of the royal from underneath the tarp. "So miss where you're from? Always good to know the neighbors. A ruler gotta practice good daphnomancy."

"Diplomacy." His stomach corrected.

"That too."

"Oh, you know. Just the princess a little old kingdom called Mewni."

The manicore's grin faded fast, "Well at least two of you can be my viceroys."

"Mewni. Mewni. Mewni. That old slum is still around." The way he held onto the party, if he had been shorter he might've been dragged them across the ground. He stopped, then stared daggers at the statue of the warrior queen before lifting up Star so hr could look at her eye to blanket, "And what are you suppose to be exactly? Solaria's daughter? She should really take better care of her cub. Oh well. Her lost, my gain."

"Wait a minute. Don't you lay a hand on her." Marco struggled. He couldn't build up any momentum and only succeeded in slapping the manticore's side.

"Sorry, this is kind of a personal thing." The monster looked apologetic when he lifted up Diaz "Really appreciate you getting me out of a jam, but you have to have your priorities. You understand?"

"Bring me closer to your face and I'll show you just how much I understand." The kid thrashed, aiming for the beast's nose. All the manticore had to do to dodge was hold Marco a bit further away.

"They did let us out."

The lion head looked at it's stomach and glared, "You can't be real. It was her mom that shoved me in there in the first place."

"Solaris isn't my mom." Piped Star.

"What is this now?" She was brought really close, enough so that if she could see beyond the clothe she'd be staring straight at his pearly whites.

"Moon is. Granny Sol has been dead for like centuries."

The lion huffed, he puffed. He was definitely in the beginning stages of throw a fit. He kick the pillar of granny Solaris. "Dang it. Then why are you even here? She couldn't even stick around til I got out?"

He leaned back against another of the stone pillars before swiping the forearm holding Marco and Gemimi through his mane. He stood back up, bringing Star back to his mug, "Let me tell you that's what wrong with the Butterfly family. No consideration. What good is even having you here?"

"None." Star sounded annoyed, "You can stop having your tantrum and let me and my friends go."

"I'm not having a tantrum. You're having a tantrum." The lion hissed.

"Well I wouldn't say that she's worthless." Attention returned to the monster's gut. "Where there is a mewman princess-"

The torso's face smirked up knowingly at it's counterpart, "-there's the magical high commission."

The lion nodded, "You're right. I have a few choice words for that lot."

"And the perfect reason for them to come to you."

The main head blinked before it's face broke into a huge and sinister smile.

"Oh come on. I thought you were on my side." Star groaned knowing exactly what type of terrible plot was being formulated in front of her.

"Yowch" The manticore jumped. Serpent flailed at it shook the arm that had been previously holding Star's new friends. They ran behind the pillars. Which one's he didn't know, "Hold on for a second. You bit me? Who even does that?"

Below the statue of Hekapoo, of course it would be her, stood the escapees. Marco's back was against the pillar with Gemini peeking over him towards the behemoth in the center.

"Thanks" Marco smiled at the hunchback's quick thinking.

Gemini didn't acknowledge the gratitude, instead focusing on the task at hand, "Quick madam. I believe that that acting now is in our best interest."

"Ya I know. I just have no idea what to do." Marco nodded, "Can you throw me like you did before?"

Gemini frowned, "I'm afraid not. Doing anything of such physical intense as that usually requires a great deal of magic. Which Madam Heinous usually provides."

"Dang. Well we got to get Star down somehow. Stay here. I'm gonna show this guy what I'm made of." The teen started to move out cover only for gemini to grasp his arm and move him back in.

"Wait madam. This seems awful dangerous." Concern was evident in his voice.

"Well I can't just sit here." Marco shot back.

"I think there is something rattling around in my noggin," The minion peeked around the corner before giving his chin a stroke. He pinched onto Marco's signature hoodie. "Hand me your garment."

"Well can't really say that I love to see em go but they make it back to the surface and all your kin will know we're right here. If only I could see ol Lekmet's face when those stiffs know I'm free." The monster leaned over to the pillar where the statue depicting a winged goat stood. The snakes of his now free hand wrapped around the sculpture, hissing and laughing.

"Hey kitty cat. Put the princess down and step away." There the boy popped out into the open. He waved his arms, gaining the beast's attention. He was the same as when he had last seen him sans for the red cloth he had on before.

"Hey no one calls me kitten but me girl," The manticore turned. He then stopped and shrugged, "or me boy. Or whatever. Being cooped up for so long hasn't really given me too many dating prospects."

"I'll call you whatever I like. You dumb stupid idiot." Marco shouted, stepping forward.

"Now you're just trying to be hurtful." The manticore huffed, "And I'm not going to lie that it is working just a wee bit."

"That doesn't matter you pathetic weak" Marco stares upwards trying to remember any array of insults that he might have subconsciously picked up over his young life "Piece of garbage."

"Okay now that's just unnecessary. I mean a lot of people have been mean to me over the years but that just takes the cake."

The manticore started unwrap itself from the stone pillar so that might approach Marco. That would've been a good idea maybe moments before. By the time he has started to move, Diaz's distraction had already paid off. The monster didn't even notice Gemini climbing up onto Lekmet's leg.

"Have at thee." With a bit more vigor than one would expect from an old man, the old lump pounced onto the lion's back. In one hand he spun around Maco's hoodie by it's sleeve like a lasso.

"Do I look like a pony to you?" The giant snarled. His comment was awarded with the sweater being looped around his eyes. The hunchback held onto both sleeves, allowing him not only to hold onto the chimera but also blind him. Claws flew up as the beast tried to rid himself of the pest. He only grabbed air and his own fur as he kept missing the hunchback, "Where are you?"

Marco ran, full speed towards the monster. One would almost think that the kid was going for a tackle of some sort, but considering that he was smaller than the thing's leg, he opted instead for sliding between his feet. When his momentum had ended, he rolled the rest of the way to a familiar object.

"To the left. The left." The stomach exclaimed, trying to help the main head.

"Your left or mine?"

"I'm on your stomach. It's the same left." The torso gave the head a exasperated look.

"Hey you!" The manticore turned to Marco or at least the was sure he was turning to the boy. He still couldn't see. If he had been able to remove the hoodie from his eyes he might've been able to see the earth boy holding Star's wand, gripping it in a manner that he have seen his friend carry the object."Wish I could think of something cool to say, but I honestly don't know enough about you to say something ironic."

"Like man, what is even your name?" Marco lowered his arms, before jerking the wand in the air, "And why isn't this working?"

"Oh that one is easy. My name is-" The monster stopped his struggle like he had completely forgotten that he was in the middle of being assaulted.

Gemini helped remind him. He snuck his sharp nails into the beast arm. "It doesn't matter!"

The minion started to lose his grip, sliding down scratching superficially to the lowered arm. He found himself tangled in the snake fingers which he hugged and smacked despite them each being as thick as his body. He bit and attacked them until Star had been shook loose from their grip.

The princess belly flopped onto the hard floor, rolling away from the threat. She stopped when her body collided with one of the stone pillars. Her arm shot up and she clawed at the rock. She stood, "Woah that was a tizzy."

"Star, are you okay?" Marco ran to her side. Her head was spinning aching but once the dizziness had passed she was sure that she would be all right.

"Princess Marco. You must take the lady and go." Gemini continued to ride the hydra like appendage. The servant was no longer on the monster's back. It's sight had returned without him there to keep the hoodie over his eyes.

"Wait Gemini." Star reached out a hand to him but Marco had already grabbed her other.

He led her to the still opened entryway. "Come on."

"Don't spare a second worrying about me. Old men don't live so long just to die in a place like this. I'd meet you back top side." Gemini's voice grew softer and softer until they could no longer hear him.

Marco looked backed, fearing the creature would follow them. Only thing they did see were the tiles once again. They were forming back behind them, coming together until the were back in the halls of the labyrinth. "Which way?"

He turned his head to the left than the right but without Gemini doing whatever it was that he had been doing before there was no clear direction. Marco paused.

An explosion set off behind them and suddenly there was a presence with the two. "Why you lot run off for?"

It didn't matter exactly where they went as long as they made a choice quickly. Star made an executive decision and lead them to the right.

Cracks started to form on the walls and ceiling. Bricks were starting to fall. The monster had been too big for the halls of the maze, but instead of him being squeezed his body crashed against the stone which started to collapse. The manticore than flexed and it began to tear.

The duo zig left and zag right, but behind them they could digging, claws flowing through dig like water. As she turned another corner Star spun around, pushing Marcho ahead of her.

"Stringray Armageddon!" She cried and two of the named fish flew ahead. They stuck onto the monster and released a large beep before exploding. It only cause it to pause slightly. The princess sent fish, bird, and mammal at the juggernaut with the same result.

"Star he's gaining on us."

"Diamond slope." Magic hit the floor and in front of them a ramp grew up like a plant. Star could only hope that the unrefined diamond could hold against the force of the charge. When the full weight of the manticore hit the slope. He deflected up in the air, right into the ceiling right above the duo.

Rock fell as the as the monster's body broke away at the structuring of the labyrinth. The first few boulders were easy enough to dodge but as the entire ceiling came down there were no where they could maneuver.

"Watch out" Star made a choice. When the full weight of the floor above them dropped, the girl flew at her companion, shielding him from the impact.

"No!" She expected a lot of pain or maybe even some emptiness that indicted that she was unalived but what came instead was nothing. Absolutely nothing. Like she found that she was able to move a bit. She wiggled her fingers and she didn't explode in agony. That was a good sign. "I'm okay."

"Ya you are." A voice wheezed underneath her. The whole room was suddenly dark but despite that she knew who it had been. "I on the other hand feel like you cracked a rib with that tackle. Mind getting off of me."

"Ya totally." There was a small part of her that wanted to sob with relief. This part was however easily overpowered by the larger part of her that felt embarrassed that she apparently knocked down her friend for completely no reason and was now pinning him flat against the wet ground. She waggled back but her heels wouldn't move back. They were hitting something solid. "I can't"

"Can't what?" She could practically see him making some sort of face at her.

"Can't get off. There's like a weight on my back." Star pushed on her elbows but that did very little to move right ever was pushing on her back.

"Must be debris." Marco guessed.

"Wait a moment I'm gonna magic us something." Star remembered the near infinite power she held in her hand. It normally was a treat to see what solution Star could cook up with mana, besides all those times that ended in disaster, but there wasn't much to look at. Even the blue magic from the wand did little to illuminate the pile of stone that had just covered them. If there were any way to describe the spell it was a dozen tiny little hands digging through rock.

It seemed to take a bit more effort from Star than it normally would. The hole was only just but enough for the two to crawl out of. They were also afraid that the whole pile would become unstable and crush them. They didn't know why it didn't initially. "How did he get out of that okay?"

"Don't know." Star dusted off her cloak, "Just lucky, I guess."

They were still in the maze. Lucky them.

It didn't look too different then it did before. Other than the freshly constructed dead end creates by all the rubble. Besides for some large stones it looked intact. From where they were they still could go straight and see where that would take them. "Where's the big guy?"

"Maybe we lost them." Marco hoped. He gave a bit of a shrug.

The two didn't notice the giant hole in the ceiling created from where the monster had impacted, or maybe they did and just chose to ignore it. It was a bit too far up from them to climb. The scratching of stone brought their attention to it. Fangs gripped the stone and then tore. The fingered serpents of the manticore sucked onto the walls allowing the creature to climb down the walls.

It was only because of quick thinking and a bit of luck that the two could dash behind a stone before it could see them. Still it sniffed the air like a wild animal leaving the two wondering if they would remain hidden for much longer. It wasn't looking at them exactly but it wasn't moving away neither.

It was a silent agreement that the two were much better off trying to wait out the pursuit. Though it was taking a while. Everytime Marco peeked up he found that he had to dodge back down to avoid the monster's gaze. "Is he just going to stick around forever?"

"I messed up." She sat, hugging her knees to her chest. Marco could barely hear her. Her chin was buried into her leg.

Marco shook his head. He sat down next to her. His legs curled up to match hers. They could actually look a bit snug if it wasn't for the circumstance. "I wouldn't say that."

"I should've never brought you here."

"Star. There was no way you could've known this was going to happen." This hadn't been the first time the two of them bent the rules. They must've been through worst.

"It's going to be okay. We just-" Wait here? Hope that thing didn't find them? They had no control over that and it got close a few times already. "It'll be fine."

"I knew we weren't supposed to be here but I brought us here anyway." "What are we going to do?"

"I don't know. We think of something." His shoulder nudged against hers. "Right, Star?"

She didn't reply. "Star?"

He kept on whispering her name, but she refused to budge. "Star?"

It was as if she had called it quits. It was just unlike her. She kept going after she broke her wand, after she lost her book, Glossaryck, and basically being told by a flying cat that she sucked at basic magic. Now she was stuck in a bottom of some pit with some unstoppable juggernaut. Marco couldn't really blame her. This whole year was kicking her over and over again.

He could hear the monster just standing there. No telling if it was even looking at their position but it decided for whatever reason not to move away. It could find them and there wasn't much they could do at that point.

Star seemed to have given up and he wasn't as strong as her. "Star."

He didn't know what he was saying until he said it. "Star. I have a daughter."

It was quiet but it rang through the air all the same. The words seemed to surround them and give him goosebumps. He was wet. Soaking after rolling around in his damp place for so long, but he still felt warm, unbearably so.

"What?" For a moment he didn't think that even that news would remove her from her slump, but after a little time she said one word.

"Back when I was with Hekapoo. I was there for years and it just happened. I only just found out." he didn't know where to look. He tried to turn to her, but while her eyes were cast down before they were now on him. They were like spot lights. He could feel himself sweating.

"Marco, why are you telling me this now?"

"Because." He didn't know why. It just seemed appropriate, or maybe he felt like it should be out there in case anything happened. "I just wanted you to know more than anyone else."

Maybe he thought that she wouldn't say anything. Just go back to be silent. Maybe he thought she would completely forget where they were and yell at him for keeping this a secret.

What he didn't expect was barely restraint giggling. "Star?"

She actually rocked a little, brushing against him in her fit. The teen coughed and calmed herself, letting a sigh escape.

"Marco." Star stood on her knees. She looked at her friend who despite everything looked more composed than she had just been and melted into him. Her arms fell into place around him and she whispered into his ear, "I love you."

Marco face grew red as his mind raced. He had many questions and concerns. Why she was telling him this now? Since when? They clouded his thoughts, preventing him from enjoying an embrace that was actually quite nice and warm.

"You're my bestie." Marco found that he could relax a little bit. Apparently this was less a declaration of love and more declaration of friendship. Though that didn't do much to stop his heart from pounding because of the initial surprise. "Now let's get you home."

She stood up and dumped the tarp from around her. It fell down, raining down on Marco. He tangled with the heavy fabric. It ended up slung around his torso like a toga, "Star what are you doing?"

She walked from behind the boulder, "Star."

"Hey, you big butt. I'm right over here." The royal heir shouted and no amount of hushing that her friend started to do could stop the monster from turning to them.

He stood up completely straight. His shadow loomed over them. He had an ugly snare read just for them. "Now that was a bit rude mate. Someone comes along, offers you riches and you won't even let them make a hostage out of you?"

Marco tried to pull her back, but Star wouldn't budge. She matched the beast in posture, meeting him gaze to gaze. She didn't blink as he continued to taunt her. "All I was gonna do is murder a few blokes, maybe some of them friends and family, but only a few. Now you're going to stay right where I see you. Stay right in my pocket til I'm about ready to start razing."

"Ok." was all she said.

"Ok?" It roared and spat. If their clothes weren't already wet then they would've been soaked "Ok?"

The manticore brought a serpent to his chin who rubbed the underside of his mawl. "Ok? I'm going to be honest I wasn't exactly expecting that one. I was mostly talking a big game. Not about the murder and all that. Just figured you could keep me chasing ya for a bit while more. Thought I would have to start crashing this place down on you."

He eyed the completely wrecked halls, "Well even more so."

"Well you don't cause I'm right here." The girl rolled her eyes. She feeled ready to get over it.

"Right and I appreciate it, honest." The monster seemed genuinely appreciative.

Star interrupted his good mood with four words, "Just do one thing."

"Course there's a catch with you royal blokes." The manticore frowned.

"My friend. You have to let him out." She demanded and Marco hearing this only pulled on her harder.

The monster look a look at Marco and smiled,"That's it? Fraid you were gonna ask for something hard. Never really had my sights on the kid anyway. I'll even give him a lift right out of here. Still love the whole 'not being stuck in crystal' trick you'd pulled on me."

"Now come here." For once the manticore didn't move with the lightning quick motions he had to before. Instead he chose savored his victory and let his arm slowly float towards the girl.

This of course just allowed him to be intercepted.

"No." Marco wrestled with the fingers. He stepped and strangled and punched the snakes as they struggled to get at his best friend. He flailed wildly forgetting every movement from his martial arts training.

"Marco." Star gasped. She should've expected this. It wasn't what she had wanted.

"Hey calm down. The lady has made her choice." He looked apologetic, but it could've also had been pain. The kid was mashing up his fingers after all.

"Are you kidding me. I'm not going to just let you give yourself up." He scolded his head. He couldn't understand how Star out of anyone he had ever known could think that this was an option.

"I'm trying to do the right thing." She explained.

"Trying and failing." He countered.

"You need to get home. What about your daughter?"

"I wouldn't be able to look her in the eye if I got you killed."

"Marco, I'm the one who got us into this and I'm going to get you out."

"Okay okay okay. Enough with the biting." The manticore grew aggressive. His fingers started to coordinate. Instead of going af  
ter him in wild abandonment they started to tie around him one by one. They pinned his arms and legs, tangled him on the cloak that Star had been carrying before. They bundled him up like a cocoon.

The monster lifted his arms and cracked his wrist, letting the boy crash against the stone floor. "I am sick and tired of the biting."

"Wait. I told you to stop let him go." Star cried out.

"I'll stop when he stops." He lifted up the covered Marco.

"I'll stop when I'm dead" Marco wheezed. He ignored whatever injuries he was suffering and still shouted loud enough to heard underneath the rag.

"You heard him. I'm being reasonable here." The manticore spoke as if he really believed that. He punctuated his sentence by slamming Marco down once more. The teen shouted in agony but still struggled.

"No you're not. Let him go now or I'll-" She didn't know what she was going to do. What she had done so far have proven ineffective, but she could fill a heat in her cheeks that just wouldn't go away.

"Or you'll do what?"

The manticore noticed far too late that Dtar had been glowing.

Miss Heinous was a patient woman. It was a skill that she had acquired and refined out of necessity over the years. It was as a skill that would always benefit her. Such as now. There was a chance that notorious Princess was dead meaning that her school was particularly solved of it's delinquency problem.

Course there was still the issue of understaffing. Gemini was now likely dead and he was the last of her puppets. She would have to go through so much trouble for another batch of servants needed to monitor on the girls under her discipline. It was difficult. The reconstruction of bodies, the binding spells, the subtle behavioral influencing. All of these were took ages.

Thankfully Rasticore was loyal with no strings attached. Once he was back she'll have all the muscle she needed to retake the school. He was all it would take for that much. After that recruiting and hiring would be simple. She just had to wait.

She'll be out of her car. She had grow a bit tired of the vehicle. Maybe she once held the thing dear but since she spent so long exiled in it she believe that when she returned to her rightful place that the car would have to be replaced. Not that she wouldn't be sad to see it go. She did have such lovely memories with her big growing lizard.

For example she held the arm in her arms, cradling the reptiles arm like a baby. Her cheek snuggling against it as they watched the night sky.

Too bad the ground started shaking ruining the entire mood. Cause she had to gain a peek at the commotion. A glance at whatever it was that dared to interrupt her precious time with her Rasticore. She had plenty of spare time to make whoever they were paid and a grand imagination to make full use of that time.

Of course she looked straight ahead and saw nothing. Which was confusing the crashing sounded like it should be very close to the couple but in front of her was nothing. Maybe they were behind a tree. Maybe the one that was currently crashing down onto the ground, completely uprooted.

Nope, no one behind there. Nor was it the tree behind that, nor tor the tree behind that. She could also rule out most of the forest in front of her for a couple miles. They all came crashing down after all. The ground underneath them just popped up, spilling dirt away from some event happening far away.

As Heinous looked up she had gotten a clue of what might've been causing this mass deforestation. Yards away was a pillar of light so bright that everything looked nearly pitch black next to it.

It last for a good moment before the ray slowly thinned and died off, leaving only the destruction it caused as evidence that the event that happened at all.

Well she better see what that was all about.

Star was pretty sure that she just coughed up a pebble. That didn't matter she had someone to look for. "Marco?"

Beyond her messy hair which draped over her face was dirt. Dirt and rubble. The walls that once surrounded were were gone. She could see in the distance the forest, or at least the remains of the forest. Above she could see the clear skies. Everything was a wreck. "Oh no no no."

"Star?" There was a groan. A thin layer of dirt lifted up, revealing a still tangled Marco. Tugged in the tarp like a pig in a blanket. With a little bit of struggle he was able to pop his arms out.

It was just in time. He had been able to meet a hug. "You're okay."

"Ya. In fact did I sleep through whatever happened here?" They broke apart and Diaz was able to see exactly where they were. "What happened to that big guy and the rest of the maze?"

"I don't know." No matter how much she wished to recall she couldn't. She just remember her friend's fight. Him being hurled against stone again and again and than nothing. "I think I might've slept through it too."

"Let's just go home. It's almost time for dinner." Marco unfolded the cloak from his legs.

Star thought that was one of the best ideas she heard in a long time. "Ya I'm over do for some grub."

"So am I." A rock shook and the two flinched. Star brought wand still in her hands. Marco balled his fist.

The debris fell over, revealing a familiar one eyed face. "Madams, you wouldn't happen to have any biscuits or the like at your residency would you?"

"Oh Gemini." Star perked up. She felt happier to see the hunchback then she thought she would.

Marco couldn't stop himself from shouting. He was just as glad, "You're alive."

"Alive?" Gemini gave a hearty laugh. "Like that overgrown pelt could sink claw or tooth into me. I've survive through tougher and sharper."

He stood with as much bravo as his old body could muster. "Now about food?"

"We see if mom can set aside another plate." Marco smiled.

The butler punched the air. "Wonderful. Now Marcia if you would lead the way."

"Um Gemini, it's Marco." The teen blinked, point at himself. "Princess Marco."

The minion readjusted his eyepiece. For a moment he looked embarrassed. "Oh sorry about that princess, slip of the tongue. I happens time to time as you get older."

"Come on. Let's just get out of here." Star swung her arms around the two.

"Think the scissors might work now?" Marco asked.

"I'd be surprise if any of the defenses are still up and running after whatever happened here." Star reached into her bag. "Now come on. I want to know everything about the baby when we get back."

"Everything?" Marco raised his brow.

"Of course. I need to." Star picked out her scissors, snipping them mindlessly. "How else am I going to be the best auntie there is?"

Marco just smiled. That just seemed exactly like something Star would say.

"Well isn't this an unpleasant surprise. You survived." It seemed the umpteenth time that day that any merriment had been swiftly killed.  
Standing across from them was the headmaster of Saint O's. "But not before destroying the place. How typical of you juveniles."

"Miss Henious." It was easy to see how relax Gemini had been before because now he had tensed up so tightly that not even oil would loosen his joints.

"Gemini. I should've known. Still felt something leeching off me." She called to him. "Come. It is almost dark and I need my rest."

The man nodded. He steppes forward but a hand caught his sleeve. He turned around and his gaze met the Star's soft face. "Wait Gemini. She nearly got you killed."

"I am quite aware." He grumbled. He looked only mildly annoyed at such a severe offense.

"Why are you even working for someone like her?" Marco agreed with Star. He moved beside them.

"Gemini. Come on." She stepped away, not for a second believing that the man would deny her.  
"Yes." Gemini coughed.

"No." Star stepped between them. "I don't know what's going on here, but you can't treat someone like this."

"I can not?" She laughed. It was dry and appropriate for a lady of her statute. When it died down she revealed a scowl which she aimed right at the teens."I don't believe that you should be the judge of how I treat my property."

"He's not some slave, lady." Marco too stood in front of Gemini. He didn't care how tired he was. He wasn't going to allow Heinous to just do what she wanted.

"Oh I honestly can't see why you are even bothering trying to fight me on this." The hag hissed. "Not for Gemini of all the insignificant things."

"He's not insignificant." Star burst over the woman's words. She subconsciously tried to make herself seem bigger.

"Allow me save your breathe and explain it in the simplistic terms. He belongs to me." The woman explained like it was the most obvious of concepts. "Whatever desires you think, or even he thinks he has, plays no part."

Star couldn't believe the woman's words. She reasoned with her new friend, "Gemini. You don't have to follow Henious if you don't want to."

"M'am I absolutely wish that was the truth." The man couldn't look her in the eye. All he could do was sigh deeply. The tip of his shoes must've been fascinating because he started at them.

"Gemini." Star cried out but he couldn't get the servant's attention. She pulled at his sleeve and that was just as effective. The heir glared at the hag. "Let him go."

"Let him go?" The mistress seemed amused at the idea. She relented. "Well if you insist."

There was a thud. Before Star could even comprehend what Heinous had said, Gemini had crashed to the ground like a lead weight.

"What?" She didn't understand.

"It actually relieving. Not having him under my control. It feels like I can concentrate a bit more."

Star waved her wand at the witch. She didn't what spell she had at the tip of tongue but it would be devastating if the woman didn't reverse what she has just done. "What did you do to him?"

"Just flexing the rights of my contract." There was a wicked smile. "Showing you exactly why this is meaningless. He can't move without my say so. He can't live without the same conditions."

"Hold on. I can help. I can-" Star moved to the prone body. She spoke to the man as if he could hear her. She looked at Marco as if he knew something they could do. "There must be someone who."

"Course I still have some use for him." Heinous snapped her fingers and the lump moved from underneath the girl.

He coughed as if he hadn't been breathing the entire time. Star didn't know if that was true or not. "Gemini. Are you okay?"

"He will be. As long as he plays his role. Now if you are all out of questions. I would like to say goodbye. It has been a long day and a lady must have her rest." The woman feigned a yawn.

"I'd normally try to exterminate you" She looked down at the princess's lost expression, "but I feel like this is a victory. A small one."

She turned away from the teens. "Now Gemini. Won't you bring me everything I might need for the night?"

"Yes." The butler lifted himself to his feet.

The crone raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Yes madam." Gemini followed after her.

The duo didn't give chase, but the boy did shout after them. "You're sick."

If looks could kill, Heinous would've turned to dust on the spot. "You're not going to get away with this."

"Star." He had hoped that Star would join in his heckling. Instead she stilled laid on her knees on the spot where Gemini had just been.

She covered her face. "Let's just go home."

"Are you sure you can't stay for dinner?" She had enough food. A tupperware container in her arms with more than enough for herself and her brothers. Still Angie thought that it would be nice to have the redhead over for the meal, especially since she helped so much.

Hekapoo smiled softly but shook her head anyway. "Nah I have to get out of here. My brothers tend to start burning things down if they're left alone for too long."

"If they're starting any bonfires, they're not doing it without me." The girl let out a laugh at her little joke and the Diaz mother giggled demon blinked. "And actually you haven't mentioned to anyone that I was the one helping out right?"

Angie blinked and paused. She looked up, trying to recollect, "Not by name, no."

"Good." Her face was purposely neutral as she nodded.

Angie breathed in and let out a deep sigh. She looked at the sky as if giving a prayer. "It's really a shame that my big man already has a girlfriend."

"No it's not. I'm happy for him." Hekapoo assured her. She even flashes her a little smile as she shook her head.

"Could you hold on for a second?" Angie stepped forward. Maybe Hekapoo had shook a little too violently because next thing she knew Mrs Diaz's arms were around her.

It could've almost had been called a tackle with how sudden it was. Even though it was gentle and there was enough room between the two to allow Hekapoo to comfortably hold the container of food in her arms, the abrupt nature of the hug still almost caused her to drop the lid.

"Sorry. Enough kids have been through this house. My mom senses was telling me that you were overdo for a hug."

"It's fine. Just don't go spreading it around. I have a reputation to uphold." While unnecessary, she couldn't say that it had been unwanted. Despite herself Hekapoo could feel her cheeks grow hot. She wasn't too embarrassed by it if the smile on her face was any indication. She cleared her throat. "So 'Mom sense', Does everyone have that?"

"I believe so. It's a bit different for everyone, but if they want it, it's there." Angie wondered what the girl's mother might've been like. "Though it's a skill that can take a while to build up. I've had a lot of practice."

"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks." Hekapoo nodded. She didn't look upset at the answer so Angie assumed that she had said the correct thing. "For everything."

"It was no trouble." It was true and she silently wished that the young girl would return once again.

The demoness turned around and walked away. A red ring appeared in front of her, growing until one of the points kissed the ground. Hekapoo didn't rest before strutting into the portal, but once she was on the other side she allowed a deep breath to escape. "No. It was."

A portal closed.

A portal opened.

Out stepped her children. Star wasn't really her daughter, but as long as the princess was staying with them she could pretend. They looked dead on their feet to the point that she honestly wouldn't be surprise if one of them started to doze off right on the front lawn. She beamed at them, giving them a small wave. "Hi Star. Hi Marco. You two are just in time for dinner. In fact you even beat your father home. He's been out all day on a commission."

"Hey Mrs Diaz." Star leaned against the wall right beside the door. Her cheek smushed against the plaster.

Marco leaned against her, crushing the blonde alien a bit. "Mom, if it's alright with you. I think I'd like to pass out now."

"Oh, you must be exhausted, but you can pass out later. Now it's dinner." She opened the door, expecting her children to follow. They did or at least tried to. They were practically crawling inside. "Come on I tried a new recipe. You have to tell me exactly how much you love it."

She would write down every word if it didn't look suspicious. The mother wanted to relay every word that she could to the girl who was pining over her son.


	10. Chapter 10

"Hey Star. Are you in there." Marco poked her locker door. He allowed the tapping of fingernails on locker to break the blonde out of whatever trance she was in.

Pages flinched between her fingers. Her smile only seem to grow larger as she went through the large tome she was holding. Marco without using his arms, pushed off against the lockers and moved behind her. He hoped to get a glimpse at whatever she has been reading. Instead he got a noseful of the back of Star's skull.

The girl gasped. She twirled and presented her discovery to her friend. Bright pages in purple and yellow. 50% off. Sale. Buy one get one free. "Marco they have tiny little caterpillar jammies at Quest Mart. You should totally buy some. They would so cute on-"

Marco clasped his hand tight over her mouth. His attention darted around the room. No one had been paying them any mind. In fact his suspicious behavior probably raised a few more eyebrows than Star's usually hyperactivity. Star still lowered her voice to compensate the kid, "the you know what."

"Star I'm one hundred percent sure that Hekapoo has already bought Minnie whatever she needs." Marco hoped before doubling back. "Ninety percent sure. Now can we talk about something else. I'm already a bit nervous."

"Oh hi Jackie." Before he could even try to stop her, Star was already on the tip of her toes, waving furiously. Another blonde stood down the hallway along side their friend Janna.

What Star got in turn was the classic "deer in the headlights" look, followed by something that might've been a wave. It looked like it was a last ditch effort of a greeting as she ran the opposite way and jumped round a corner.

Her beanie wearing partner in crime just shook her head as the skateboarder retreated. Janna gave Marco an apologetic look and Marco hoped that she knew he felt just as sorry.

"Well that was weird." The dimensional traveler questioned Jackie's abrupt behavior.

Marco worries didn't stop Star from sticking her nose into that catalog. The fact that it was such a secret might've made it even more exciting to her.

"Man you're that excited for the kid?" Janna stuck her own nose over the blonde's shoulder. The good thing about being at the back of Miss Skullnick's math class was that it gave the two girls plenty of time to chat.

"Of course." Star fake whispered. Which meant that the big eared troll who ran the class heard her but not loud enough that the teacher bothered to actually call her out on it.

It took a moment for the blonde to realize who exactly she was talking to, "I mean, kid?"

She bite her lip. She wasn't sure if that sounded the least bit convincing. Janna just rolled her eyes. The meaning wasn't lost on Star. "I mean, you know?"

The filipina nodded, offering up a tiny smirk. Star deflated, sliding down the chair. She was a bit relieved that this tiny incident wasn't her exposing her friend's secret.

"So I hope that whole adventure you guys had yesterday did something for you." Janna stuck around with the duo as the period ended.

"Ya nothing like the thrill of nearly dying to give you a whole new perception to life." Marco shot sharply. He blinked and reexamined his tone. "I have no idea why that sounded sarcastic. I'm honestly am a bit more relaxed."

"Cool." Janna almost looked like she wanted to cheer. To be honest this whole 'making people feel good' thing was pretty new to her. "Though I did tell you that you didn't have to let Star in. Didn't want you walking straight into a teenage drama moment."

"Actually Star took it well." He gave a blank look at his friend who still had her nose right in the spine of the interdimensional shopping guide. "Almost too well."

Eyes twitched as she heard her name, "How can you not be excited?" Her smile was bright at first but gave way for suspicion. She examined Janna from the tip of her hat to the bottom of her nose, "Hey when exactly did you find out? You wanted to keep this away from me?"

The princess gasped in sudden realization, "Does Jackie know? Is that why she was avoiding us?"

She searched around but the freckled blonde was absolutely nowhere to be seen. Marco hesitated but confirmed her guess.

Star looked down and just sighed, before stalking over to the boy. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him to her chest. "Marco, I'm so sorry."

"Star." he almost wanted to laugh. In fact he actually did. "You didn't do anything."

It was a tough struggle but Marco was eventually able to get out of her grasp. He ducked under one of her arms and stood back up straight. She smiled at him, "Still, she meant a lot to you."

"She still does. Though it's over now."

"Hey Diaz. If it makes you feel any better while she was avoiding you today, Thomas doesn't exactly hold grudges." Janna cut in and what she was saying was true. It was a trait that she thought was actually less than ideal in her crush, "Besides she actually cut out early today, so it's not like she's actively skipping out on you at the moment."

"Thanks Jan." Marco didn't believe her but for once he really appreciated the girl. The group started to move down the hall.

"So tomorrow's the day right?" Janna said, "Going to practice your custody rights."

"Ya, in fact. I was going to go over Hekapoo's today after class." Marco admitted, it was the first time he really said the plan out loud.

"Wait, when were you going to tell us?" Star sped in front and stooped in front of Diaz, "Can I come?"

"Why would you want to do that?"

"Babies." Star answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Than again base on how she was acting it probably was.

Marco rolled his eyes and gently moved her aside, "I think it might be good with maybe mom and dad met Hekapoo. Better they have an idea of what's going on."

"Were you just going to dump a toddler on them before?" Janna wondered. Like hey mom and dad. Going out to the park. By the way this baby I'm carrying is your grandchild, bye.

"No, I was going to tell them either way. It's just. It's not like Hekapoo lives down the street or something." This wasn't your everyday type of drama.

It was a dark day in Hekapoo's personal dimension. Nothing bad particularly happened, that was literal. A literal dark day. The whole plane had a weak sun that the dimensional traveling witch put only a tiny bit of effort into forging. It wasn't as if she needed a bright enough star to support a spectrum of life. The world was only really meant for her and recently for her, her baby and a dragon cycle.

It was a still pretty small but a few things had been rearrange in order to accommodate the new additions to her family. A couple of new rooms, a few new baby safe accessories and of course an brand new kitchen with an actually stove and everything.

She had to make sure that her daughter actually ate and the old one wasn't really cutting it. First couple of days on the bottle she had to use her own magic to heat up baby formula. It was a pretty tedious and she didn't wait long to refurbish her shack.

It was different from what she was use too. She spent hundreds of years living on her own and she had a lot of habits to beat because of it, but she couldn't say that it felt bad. In fact it was nice; comfortable. She could even go as far as to say that things were cozy between herself, her daughter and her pet.

That was three lives that the house supported. Four was pushing it.

Seven, and she was a second away from kicking people out of her house. She was speaking literally boot to ass.

"So hey Hekapoo," Her baby daddy sat on one side of her kitchen table. He kept taking peeks to his left, "Who exactly is this guy?

"That's just Rhombulus." The crystal headed dude didn't even flinch at the mention of his name. He was enjoying some mush that Hekapoo was expecting all of them to eat. Really going to town on it. Like he had the bowl all the way to his face and he was making loud eating sounds. How was he eating the junk by the way? He had no mouth.

It didn't matter, Marco took one sniff of the goo before sliding his own bowl over to the man with snake hands. If the man felt appreciative at the additional meal, he didn't spare the time to show it. He just brought it straight to his mug, replacing his previous bowl.

"He's another high commissioner. You guys met at the department." Hekapoo explained. "Rhombulus say hi"

Her tone was just harsh to move the guy away from his grub. The food was still stuck to his face. He swung his torso over to the teen offered a 'hand' to, "Hey, what's going on?"

Marco had a bad experience with snake recently paused at the gestured. Well he paused because of that and also because he had no idea how he was suppose to shake it. Diaz clamped his hand down, four fingers under the snake's jaw and his thumb over it's snout. He kind of jostled the appendage up and down until the motion resembled a handshake.

"Man Star, you're really that bummed out?" Even though the princess was her friend, Janna didn't spend a lot time outside her home turf. She almost wished that she didn't tag along. The whole room was a little bit awkward. Well that was a lie. It was only weird between the two parents. The crystal guy was busy munching and Star wasn't reading the room at all. She was just having a pout. "Not like you're aren't going to see the kid tomorrow. I'm pretty sure you'll be begging for it to go down for a nap than."

"So why is he here?" Marco pointed at Rhombulus.

"Because you have really bad timing." Hekapoo dipped her spoon in her bowl, but when she tried to extract it the slime caught the utensil and refused to let it go no matter how hard she pulled. She sighed, "It's not like it'll hurt for Minnie to around her godfather."

"Oh you're using my nickname." Marco could almost swoon. It was tiny, probably insignificant but he felt that he already provided something for his daughter. That was until he registered the exact words his baby mom said, "Wait, godfather? This guy is her guardian?"

Hekapoo shrugged. She didn't really feel the need to justify her decision "So what brings you here, 'dad'?"

"Hekapoo." He gave a false start. It was a bit harder to ask than he thought it would be. This was a bit of a step he was planning on taking, "Hekapoo, I think you should see my mom and dad."

"Huh." Hekapoo blinked. She made another tug at her spoon before bluntly saying "Pass."

The teen frowned. "What? How come?"

"Sorry earth boy, but I'm not sure that's the greatest idea. The two of us kind of skipped the stage where we meet each other's parents." Hekapoo stated, "Besides I'm trying to keep things from getting harder for you."

"Too late." A voice piped in.

The two parents' gaze shifted across the table. Both curious about the new opinion. Janna's feet was plopped up on the table. She met Hekapoo's glance with a glare, "Things getting hard for Diaz. If that was your goal than you blew it."

It got suddenly warmer. Marco could guess that it was because the flame on top of daughter's mother's head flared for a split second. Hekapoo huffed. "That's exactly why I'm not following him back to Earth."

"Don't give me that." Janna frowned, but she kept her body still. "You already went this far. Just do him an actual favor. Bite the bullet."

"Hey Jan. It's okay." Marco didn't know where his childhood bully was going with this, but he felt like he didn't want to know.

Janna's feet swung off. When she heard Marco, she sat up in her seat on reflex, "Dude no. She screwed you over once and now she's doing it again."

Marco didn't back down, "Janna she didn't do anything."

"Except for drop a huge load on you. Seriously it isn't like you can choose not to be a dad after all this." Janna thought about that for a second, "Some people could. Not you Marco. Not someone like you."

"It's not like she did it on her own. I had to be there too." He couldn't even joke about not having enjoyed it neither.

"Marco. For once could you make things easier for yourself. I like to believe your folks will be cool with this, but I know that mine would be at my throat if I told them I was pregnant." Janna leaned forward. Her fingers were down on the table. She was almost clawing at the wood. "You losing Jackie: that's not the worst that can come out of this."

"Jackie?" Hekapoo wondered if that was a name she should know.

"Guy's girlfriend." Janna explained. She left out her own relationship with the girl.

"Ex girlfriend" Marco felt that was much more accurate.

"Wait hold up." Hekapoo lifted her palm in the universal sign for stop. "'Losing her?'"

"She didn't take the news well." he explained.

Janna quickly corrected him, "No she took it about as well as anyone could."

Marco nodded. He couldn't argue with that statement.

"Who exactly thought that she had to be let on this. In fact, why are you even here?" Hekapoo twisted her torso towards Marco, "Have you been just blabbing to everyone?"

"Wait, you wanted him to just keep a baby secret?" Janna rasied an eyebrow.

"Yes" Hekapoo said through her teeth. She stopped and forced her expression to soften, "At least I didn't want him spreading it around, scaring away any girl that might show interest in him."

"Why?" All eyes turned to Star. The girl shook out of her slump while no one was the wiser. While everyone else looked a little bit tense, she didn't seem at all bothered by it. "I mean, Why would it matter if he scared girls away. Aren't you guys going to get married either way?"

Her friends look at her like she grew a second head. That made her nervous. She practiced enough spellcraft that was a possibility. She rubbed her neck to make sure. No, nothing there, except for a tiny bit of sweat.

They were still staring.

"No." The silence was broken by the host. Her shout was so sudden and loud that it cause everyone not named Rhombulus to jump. "No."

She actually started laughing, or started making a noise that sounded like laughter. It was a little bit hard for it to seem genuine when she almost sounded angry. "There is absolutely no way."

"Ow." Marco didn't mean to sound so hurt.

The mother of his child for a moment couldn't look at him. She didn't like that look he had on his face, "Don't take it like that. I don't mean you and me. I mean me and anyone. I."

"But what about the baby." Star hadn't expected that response. She started choosing her words carefully. A rare moment for the blonde. "That means you had her but aren't together."

"Ya basically. What happened to that whole rebel princess shtick you had going? Afraid that my daughter is unpure?" Heckapoo questioned, "I know that's important for the royal bloodline, but for the rest of us it can get a bit complicated."

She sighed and glance at the sky. Scanning the rooming, she settled her sights on the one who started this, "He's on the market. Interested?"

Janna didn't waste energy humoring the idea, "Please, the closest I've ever got to being attracted to Diaz he was wearing a purple gown."

"How do you even know about that?" Marco cut in. He did that once and the only person who knew about it was himself, Star and Ponyhead.

Janna just smiled. "I know everything about you Marco."

He jabbed a finger at her direction. Marco drew his hand back and jabbed again. "See there. That's exactly why everyone thought you had a crush on me."

"How about you princess?" Hekapoo motioned her chin over to Butterfly.

Star didn't reply. She didn't show any indication that she had even heard the question. She had been staring at the redhead, but she just had a normal blank.

"Star?" Marco almost stepped out of his seat.

"Huh?" Star snapped out of whatever that was. She looked a little bit embarrassed being caught apparently daydreaming. She gave a nervous laugh, "Sorry. Just thinking about something I said before."

Her friend didn't even notice her strange behavior. He pleaded to the demoness. "H-poo, please."

"You know I hate that name." She said that but she deflated a bit in her seat. She crossed her arms but they weren't tight. She had trouble resisting.

"Come see my parents. They'll want to meet you. Even if we aren't together." Marco lingered on that detail. It was like the words tasted strange in his mouth. He couldn't focus on it for long. Not at the moment. "You and me. We're family. That means you're their family too."

"What a sweet talker. Am I right?" Marco had no idea how Janna could have a smirk so big without it turning into an actual smile.

"Janna." He felt like he and his baby mama was having such a nice moment. Of course here was hurricane Ordonia to blow that all away.

"I can't say he's not. Spent a few decades seeing just how sappy he can be." The face on Hekapoo matched his delinquent friend.

"Hekapoo."

"Fine" She wanted to laugh but she swallowed it. Both her palms pushed against the table, forcing herself up. "Hey rock for brains."

Rhombulus once again looked up. His mess was now a complete mess but he looked almost ready to eat his bowl. Hekapoo gave him his orders. "I'm going out. Guard all my stuff. That includes my bundle of joy."

The commissioner didn't hesitate to pump his arm. A small cheer escaped.

Hekapoo walked away from the table. The father of her child stood to meet her. There was the biggest smile on his face "Really? You coming?"

"Ya well I couldn't think of a reason not to." He hugged her. Of course he did and she barely had it in her to pretend that she didn't enjoy it. She didn't let it last long. She pulled away in a beat. "At least not a reason that I feel like telling you."

Janna didn't join them. Her reasoning was that she had enough drama for the day. Maybe she had enough for the entire month. Hanging out with Marco was proving exhausting. Besides she could visit him and Star anytime she wanted. They wouldn't even have to know. He didn't like that last reason, but he had long accepted that fact as true. So after Janna was dropped off in a place of her choosing the mother, the father and his friend who had gotten strangely quiet all returned to Earth.

"Hey mom. Are you home?" Marco cried from his living room. Hekapoo fell onto the couch, resting one leg over the other. He was weary. As if just the act of speaking to her would hint to his plight.

"Oh hi sweetie. I'm in the kitchen." A voice sang from the kitchen. His mother's hand was trace the laminated pages of a binder. "Now I was thinking marble counters for the kitchen. Could you get your father. He always had a better eye for these things."

"Star is already bringing him down." Marco told her. At least he thought she was. While he was searching downstairs, she had gone up so that they could cover the entire house.

"Tell him I'll meet him right on the couch. I'll have a catalog or two." His mother dismissed his statement. As if it was coincidence that Star was already bringing her husband down. Marco's father was so casual as he stride down the steps. It was an obvious contrast to how carefully Star was choosing her steps. He would have to talk to her later. See what was bothering her.

"Hola son." The smile was like a beacon. His dad greeted him like they hadn't seen each other earlier that morning. That was nothing new. That was just a thing his dad did.

Marco greeted back, "Dad."

"And who is your friend?" He was just as suspicious of Marco's wrong doing as his wife was. That was to say 'not at all'. His hand swayed in the air like a dog's wagging tail. Even Hekapoo couldn't resist smiling back. To not smile would be against the natural order. She did only give a weak wave back.

"Oh hi Hekapoo." Angie joined them. She took a second to greet her seemingly young guest.

Hekapoo returned the favor like an old friend. "Hey Angie."

"Do you know each other?" Marco pondered but quickly shook the question out. There was a time and place for everything. He could ask questions later. "Nevermind that's not really important right now. Just-"

Marco slipped between his parents. He urged them close to him and lead them to the displaced Hekapoo, but she moved voluntarily. "Could the two of you just sit down for a moment. Right there. Down on the sofa. You're gonna need the support."

"Sure." His father sat back comfortably. He soon lean over to his wife. He didn't bother to whisper. "What's is all this about?"

The mother did a bit better, but they could still be heard by everyone. Her voice just oozed excitement. "Must be something big. They're putting a bit of effort into surprising us."

"I do love surprises." Mr Diaz perked up. He turned his head over to the exchange student. "What is it Star?"

"Oh" Star bit her lip, "It's not me. Marco just wanted to tell you guys something."

Her smile was awkward. It seemed that whatever was pushed her to see the joy behind the occasion died when put against the heads of the house. She peeked at her best friend. Maybe she could take the lead. "Though I could-"

Marco shook his head and Star's voice died down. His mother laughed. "Just give Marco a little time."

His father urged him. "Go ahead son."

"I can't wait." As much as she wanted to pretend to be suffering her smile gave her away. She was brimming with anticipation.

Tears began to pour.

"Marco." He didn't even realize it until his mother called his name. Any positive emotion immediately left his parent as they saw their son start to tremble in front of them.

"I just. I just wanted to." He couldn't finish his sentence. The more he spoke the more something got caught on his throat. He wanted to breathe but his nostril were suddenly full. His parents started to stand. He tried to tell them to stay back. To sit down, but they only started to move on him more.

"Oh, sweetie. What's wrong." His mother spoke. There was a gentle palm on his arm. It started to guide him.

His dad was in front of him. The father patted the a couch cushion. "Marco come on. Why don't you have a seat?"

"No, I got to tell you. I'm."

"Marco please." His mom looked blurry to him but he could tell from her voice what the look on her face was. "You're scaring me."

She took him to his father.

"You don't have to force yourself so much." Raphael received his son, led him down so that he could lay on the couch. "This sounds important. Take a rest. Whatever is going on will still be there after."

"Maybe I should do this." Hekapoo stood over all of them. Marco was prone and his parents were almost kneeing trying to persuade him to stay put. She guessed that made her look a little intimidating to them. They even seemed nervous at her intrusion.

"No." The boy's chest shot up. It was eased back down before he could sit up.

He could hear his mother gasp. "Marco."

"Relax. I'm a commissioner. It's not like I haven't been the bearer of bad news before." She wanted to believe that she was poking fun at herself, but he already knew how she felt about this.

"This isn't bad." He said while his tear ducts haven't even settled.

He wasn't fooling her. "It's alright. I knew I basically screwed you over."

"I'm sorry, but what is going on?" Mrs Diaz wanted to give her full attention to their guest. If she could tell her what had gotten into her son she wanted to know. On the other hand, it seemed almost like she had to force her son to relax. Why he was upset didn't seem to be as important as making sure he was okay.

Her husband made the choice. He tried to ask sweetly, but a glob of sweat on his brow betrayed how nervous he was inside. "Please could you tell us what's wrong with Marco?"

"I'm Hekapoo. I." She looked away for a moment. She had trouble thinking of the exact words. "-work for the Butterfly royal family."

"That's true. She has served my family for generations." Star stood beside the commissioner. She tried to smile brightly. 'Tried' being the keyword. There was a smile, but it didn't seem real. It was her eyes. They were all over the place.

"I'm a bit older than I look, right" The red head answered the question that would no doubt be raised and she did so with a chuckle. A weak one, but it was still a chuckle. She looked down at Marco. "So is he."

The Diaz exchanged looks. Neither one of them understood what was being told to them. This was strange, even to them. "He spent a lot of time with me. Sixteen years."

That wasn't important to them. It just sounded ridiculous. Not because it sounded unbelievable. Unbelievable wasn't in their vocabulary. It just sounded irrelevant. Their son still looked fourteen just like he had since his last birthday. He hadn't gone missing and they have seen him everyday for the last year. To them he never missing and if he had, why would it put him on edge like this?

"We spent a lot of time together-" She swallowed. The demoness took a look at the son, the father and finally the mother. "and you're grandparents."

"Surprise." Star splayed her hands next to her family servant. Her voice almost sounded hoarse. It was a desperate attempt to undercut the seriousness of the situation. It didn't work to break the complete stunned silence that overtook everyone else.

Angie Diaz kneed by her son. The hand that was clinging against him as a show of support balled. She looked at the girl that she had chatted with yesterday, the woman that she spoke to yesterday, and narrowed her eyes. "Get out."


	11. Chapter 11

It might've not been enough to cow the immortal but Star sure as hell flinched. She wasn't even the target but just being in the blast radius of that look on Angie Diaz's face made her want to shrink into herself and apologize. Marco was quick to forget how emotionally weak he was feeling. He tried to get up, shouted "wait," but he felt dizzy. His dad didn't need to use any force as he urged the teen to lean his head back down.

"Wait Mrs Diaz." Star slipped in between the two women. Her arms were stretched down, pushing back the air as if she was expecting the woman of the house to tackle forward. "I know that this all can be a bit too much but you have to trust me."

"Star go to your room." The matron stared her down. Star found her foot shift just an inch. She had to focus to stop her toes from betraying her. It wasn't as if Angie Diaz was actually her mother, but she was the next thing to it.

"You don't understand." Star instead allowed her battle instincts to take over. When Mrs Diaz moved to her left, the mewman leaned over to let her body act as a barrier between the two mothers. Angie then stepped to to her right and Star leaned to the other side. "Hekapoo is a commissioner. She's practically nobility."

Behind her the guest could only grow annoyed. Hekapoo tried to keep a neutral expression but she found Star's assistance to be unwanted and frankly unhelpful. She hissed, "Princess, stop trying to build me up here."

"And how old is she?" The girl hadn't expected a question, let alone that question. The mother looked intent on simply staring down the commissioner instead of a full on confrontation.

"That's-" Star hesitated, "I'm not one hundred percent a history expert." This was true of course. While she felt she a lot of respect for her family history, her troubles with her studies started way before she arrived on the earth plane.

'I don't know' wasn't a good answer, Star knew that much.

The madam asked Star. At least the girl thought she was asking her. Miss Diaz started to eye her granddaughter's mother. "How old is she exactly?"

"I'm not giving an exact number." Hekapoo piped up. She saw that Star could only helplessly look at her. The young mewni heir wanted her to cut in. She had other plans. "She already has reason enough to be ticked off."

Sometimes the lack of an answer told you all you need to know. It seemed to work for Angie, "Stay away from my son."

The woman nearly snapped around Star. While the princess did intercept her once more, she nearly had to make a grab for the mother. Something told her that if she actually did touch her that it would not end well. "Wait. You don't understand. Marco was older."

"I don't know who you are, but I never want to see you back here again." Star didn't know how Angie could sound so angry while keeping her voice so calm and steady.

"I'm only here because he wanted me to part of his life. I wish he'd forget the whole thing." Hekapoo didn't back down. In fact she looked like she fully expected the deadlock between them. "I'm going to drop off my daughter tomorrow if he still wants her."

"Hekapoo." Rafael did have to struggle to keep Marco down that time. When Hekapoo started to walk away his son started to rise nearly knocking the father back. Mister Diaz didn't think he could stop him if he really began to thrash.

"No. No. No. You can't leave." Star shouted behind her. She walked beside her, but Hekapoo just wasn't listening to her plea. "By order of the royal family I-"

Hekapoo flicked her wrist, a practice motion. It was hard to tell if it was magic or sleight of hand, but the commissioner snapped her fingers and a single scissor blade appeared in her hand. She stabbed the air, creating red sparks.

"Hekapoo stop." Marco finally moved his father, but by that point the porter than finally opened.

"Wait." Finally the demoness paused. A hand stretched out. It was surprising to everyone that the hand belonged to Marco's father. "Please just give us a bit."

"Angie, can we see each other in the kitchen?" He wasn't asking. Not really. Rafael hoped that if he grabbed his wife's hand that she would follow.

"No." She didn't. She had yanked her hand back violently. She actually manages to pull him forward. It almost caused him to lose balance. He had to try again and this time he wrapped around her wrist. "Rafael. No."

"Rafael." Slipped out again. It felt rough, like both their nails scratched the other's skin as she clawed out of his grip. Of course he tried again with similar results and he realized that what he was doing now, wasn't working. He had to move on to more despite measures. Rafael bent down, crossed his arms around his wife's waist and stood. Her eyes shot open wide as she kicked. Her feet felt strange as they both left the ground. "What are you doing?"

She tried to squeeze herself from her husband's grasp. Her fingernails dug into his arms and when her foot swung back and her heel hit his torso, she felt guilty but she didn't show it. She would have time to apologize later. She wanted the girl out of here. With her own dignity attached. That's why she didn't consider biting.

Her husband walked easily enough over to the far corner of the kitchen, a little bit out of everyone else's sight. He did a even better job landing her gently down on the tip of her toes. She stomped the rest of the way down, nearly tipping herself. Angie now stood only in front of her husband and she seemed ready to explode at anyone.

Rafael had his arms in front of him, not just because he had just let her down but also a sign of caution. Maybe to take it easy on himself or to hold her punches against their guest "Angie. We have a granddaughter."

"We don't know that." What she really wanted to do was completely reject the idea. To reject the idea that she had a granddaughter from that woman, but her husband seemed so utter convince that she felt horrible for even questioning the legitimacy of the claim. "And even if that's true. We're have her tomorrow. We could just keep her. We don't need to ever see her again."

Rafael didn't want to believe what she was implying. He shook his head. "You don't mean that. You're upset."

"And you aren't?" She was already keeping her voice down. She refused to have everyone in the living room hear her while her husband was speaking so quietly. That didn't she tamed her movement. She nearly lunged at the much larger man.

She didn't touch him of course, but he still seem to recoil. It was as if his legs were giving out. He had to hold onto the corner top for support. "No I feel weak inside, but you're so angry. I can't. I just can't"

"She came yesterday." Angie gasped as if she couldn't believe her own words. Or maybe she couldn't believe any of this. "I thought she was fourteen. I thought she just had a crush. She was here the day before, and she told me she was Star's friend and now I find out- She's older than me."

"She touched my son. She's older than I am and she took advantage of him. She-" She felt something in the back of her throat. It was sharp, if you could describe tastes that way. "Was over here. Hiding that that from us. All while she was."

It burned and brought tears to her eyes but she swallowed it anyway. "She had a baby with my baby."

"Angie." His words didn't sound convincing, not even to himself. He said them anyway. "She said that Marco had been old enough when it happened."

"Old enough? Have you seen him?" It should have been obvious. She believed so. "He's still wears his ninja shirt to bed. He avoids stepping on cracks on the sidewalk because he worries about me. He gets embarrassed just holding his girlfriend's hand. She wants us to believe that he's was old enough to have a baby?"

She focused her attention to the ground. It was like the tile floors made it easier for her think. How do we even know that's true. Also she found that it was a bit difficult for her to look at Rafael. Angie started to pace. "How do we know that she isn't lying to us? To him? She could've made him think he was old enough. We don't know what's out there."

The mother stopped. Her back not completely revealed to the father but she was turn enough away from him that he couldn't see her expression, but when he heard her voice crack he could guess which one she wore. "We don't know anything."

She peaked at her husband and must've regretted it because she snapped back. She let out a sigh. No it sounded heavier than a sigh. Like her breath was dragging something along with it. Suddenly she steeled herself before forcing her body to crank around. She wanted to look the other parent in the eye. "Rafael. Are we bad parents?"

"Angie no." Rafael didn't know if he was giving a definite answer to her question or if he was simply reacting to Angie as she seem to nearly lose balance. It looked like she wanted to fall on her knees. He caught her in an embrace, holding her to his chest. He cried into her ears. "No no no. There was nothing we could do."

Her voice was muffled by his chest. It was until he swept her hair back that she swung her head to the side and repeated herself. "We could've asked."

* * *

The teen said thank you as she exited the building. It wasn't to anyone in particular. Maybe it was to everybody. She had been there enough that she felt that you could point at any person who worked there and she could tell you their name and an interesting story about them. She was confidence of that. She threw her board down and rode the ramp that they had at the exit. There were only about three steps on the stairs but she still preferred the ramp. It was a bit more fun. Of course it was a slope made for wheelchairs so it wasn't steep at all. She came to a soft stop when she reached the bottom.

She was about to kick off when she heard something close by. A thump. "You know Jan. You could've came in. Would be a little less awkward than standing out here."

Her friend was throwing a ball against one wall while leaning against the other.

"Thomas. I thrive in awkward." Janna caught the blue rubber sphere in her mitts before tossing it away once more. "Besides I'm not the biggest fan of this joint. It's boring and depressing."

"Maybe they could leave a cadaver out. Nothing really brings people together like a nice carrion." It didn't matter that the togetherness was a product or fear and awkwardness. Of course Jackie was joking when she said this. Most certainly.

Janna liked what she was hearing. She caught her ball once more, before standing straight. The sphere disappeared as her hands went into her pockets. "Thomas are you reading my mind?"

"Almost all the time." Thomas stuck the tips of two fingers on her temples. A motion that she've seen in comics and shows that indicates the gift of telepathy.

"Rad."

The wheels on Jackie's skateboard made a rocking noise as rolled it back and forth.

"Hey Jan. You didn't get dropped off by your mom right?" Jackie stepped on her board. She was a tiny bit more forward than she usually was. Someone who didn't board normally wouldn't have notice but Janna knew what it meant. Her hand was even reaching behind her, clenching the air gently.

Instead of accepting the invitation, Janna admitted "No Jackie. Got a lift from the ex."

"You haven't dated anyone before." Jackie stated as a fact. She didn't look even surprised by her friend's statement, like she had expected it. That didn't mean she couldn't hope.

Janna shook her head. "Not my ex."

The skateboarder hesitated. She didn't know what to say other than "How is he?"

"He's good. Taking the whole thing well. Which is good or bad depending on how you look at it." Janna looked away from. Most would probably be happy that Diaz wasn't in the middle of a complete breakdown, maybe proud. Jan wasn't so sure. She looked back over to Jackie "That doesn't mean he's not upset over whatever it is that's going on between you and him."

"He's just focusing on what he needs to. I get it." She seemed please enough at the news, or at least Jackie didn't look miserable at how quickly Marco was preparing to be a dad.

"Jeez Thomas. Stop being so selfless." Janna scoffed. "It spreads. Next thing you know, you're gonna have me donating to like charity or something."

"Janna I think it's a bit too late for that. I already know you donate to charity." She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. It substituted it was a laugh.

"Lies."

"One day the world will know just how much of an optimist you are, even though you try to hide it." She smiled for a beat before dropping it completely. Finger nails of one hand traced against the palm another. Jackie Lynn looked almost nervous when she said "And Jan. I am being a tiny bit selfish. In a messed up sort of way."

"Hit me up. You know that the darkest corners of the human psyche is my playground." It was supposed to sound casual. Maybe Janna had played up any excitement that was there.

"Maybe I'm just living vicariously." Jackie admitted.

Her friend blinked. "What?"

"Man, I don't even know Jan." The blonde dismissed her own thought. "Whole thing is jank "

"Ya." It was hard not to agree. Ordonia looked around. "You know I was a little bit worry when you decided to bail. Now I see you here and it's like, multiply that feeling by a hundred."

"You don't have to worry about that." Jackie waved it off.

She looked genuinely relieved. "I don't? Cool."

Jackie stretched out her words. "Just don't be surprise if you don't see me again tomorrow."

"Oh. Ok." Janna looked a bit less relieved, but she held her tongue.

Jackie didn't notice. At least she didn't seem to notice. She just turned around on her skateboard and reached her hand out once more. "Come here."

Janna ignores something, something that was in her gut telling her to press further. Instead she hooked her fingers with Jackie's and didn't resist when she was pulled on top of the board. She held onto Thomas's waist for support and they two started their trip home.

A loud beep punctured the air. An alarm. A black specter was in one hand. An monitor on it's side. A red dot flashed, once then twice. A cloak figure brought their nose down the same time they brought the radar up. The target moved further and further away.

Cloth shook as the person breathed. They hung their head back and pinched the edge of their hood. A green iris took a peek at the building in front of them.

Echo Creek Specialty Hospital.

The mantle dropped back down. The specter lowered.

Well better check that out.

* * *

She was beautiful with hair like her's. She didn't' want to admit it but her fingers traced subconsciously through her our mane as soon as she laid eyes on it. Maybe it was just a maternal thing but there was something there. Not a trait like a hair and eyes but a feeling. It was like the baby had her spirit. Like the baby had the same thrill of adventure she did, as if it passed from her to her son to his daughter.

She didn't know if that sounded ridiculous or not. This was only a picture, maybe she was reading into the whole thing too much. She just wanted to think that maybe there could be a positive spin to all this. There would be another child in the house. Not all the time but they would be there.

They had always wanted a daughter or a second son. Whatever the healthy bundle of joy would have been. It didn't really matter. As long as they were.

It was always a bit strange that such a couple still very much in love wouldn't have another child. They had tried all the time. It could be said that they were still trying now. Not actively, just a small spark of hope in the back of their minds that they left unspoken. The idea that if they were surprised with a newborn that it would be so grand.

Another child never came. Marco was a miracle and even when he had come out it was such a panic. He had been premature. They had been trying for months prior to discovering that she was pregnant. After all that when he was born he couldn't breathe. There had been a fear, a heavy fog in the air that there that they would lose the baby. All because her body couldn't had waited for a few more months.

It made her wonder if It really was meant to be a mom.

After all it wasn't as if this was her son's fault.

Her son had always been so careful despite who his parents were. She had encouraged him to be free. Gave him plenty of time to do whatever it was he chose to do and somehow he ended up a boy who didn't take any chances.

He had good grades. Great even. It was as if he was planning on a scholarship from age ten. He was the son that any mother could hope they're son to be. So how?

It had to be her.

"Mrs Diaz."

The door to Marco's room creek open. She was awoken from her thoughts. She was at her son's desk, looking at a picture of her granddaughter.

Her granddaughter.

She had to get use to thinking that.

"Star." She tried to act normal or at least sound it. It was a bit hard when her surrogate daughter just saw a harsher side of her then she would've liked. "Is everything done downstairs?"

"Ya." Star stated, not wasting extra words.

Angie sat up a bit straighter, like her spine had grown.

Star thumbed the edge of the door. Her fingers tapped rhythmically. She bit her lower lip before asking, "Are you still mad?".

"Oh no Star." She started. However she found her eyes wandering. She couldn't finish what she knew she should say. Finally she admitted, "I am far beyond that."

Honestly she sounded more burned out than wrathful.

"You sound a bit like my mom." Star couldn't help but find something amusing in all this.

Angie could imagine what the rebel princess did that cause her poor mother the same type of stress that she felt right then. She snorted. Probably a ton of things. The girl was a handful. That's what Mrs Diaz loved about her, "Tiny secret. Most mother's freak out time to time. I think it might be what we're supposed to do."

"Wow, that doesn't sound fun." Star frown. Her sympathetics obvious.

"No. No it's not" Angie nodded. "Star. Can I talk to you for a little bit?"

The door clicked. There wasn't another chair but Star wouldn't complain about sitting on the bed. Angie had to stand and swing the chair around so that the two could look at each other eye to eye.

"Mrs Diaz. I didn't." Didn't what? Angie didn't really feel like letting Star finished that thought.

"Star, I'm not going to yell at you. In fact I think I might've got a bit hot headed." The fingers sans her thumb on her left hand massage her forehead. She didn't look at Star, preferring the sight of her palm.

"Oh great." Star smiled. Her hands switched between squeezing he covers and smoothing them back out. "Well you don't have to worry about that. I get over everything quickly."

Star began to stand but the mother's words interrupted any attempt she would make at escape. "That wasn't what I wanted to say."

"Drat." Did Star mention how much this reminded her of her mother. Cause this really reminded Star of conversing with her mother.

Angie looked directly at her guest. "Star. This place. The one you said he was for years. That's just one place right? Was it- how was it?"

"I didn't really spend too much time there. Probably was there longer picking up Hekapoo today than I was 'rescuing' Marco." She used quotation marks. "It was cozy."

"And safe?" Angie added.

"Ya I guess. Don't really think he spent too much time at her house though." Well he spent just enough time at Hekapoo's place for a baby to have been conceived, but Star wasn't going to mention that.

"He was probably all over the place. He was trying to get a pair of dimensional scissors because it turns mine were sort of stolen?" Star had decides to be completely honest. Something she didn't always do with her parents, but she hopes that the more receptive Angie Diaz would care for. It didn't stop her from sweating when she mentioned that last detail however.

"And your parents. They couldn't have gotten you another pair." Angie suggested

"Well they kind of didn't know that I had them for awhile." Star explained. "I mean they probably do now because of that whole Toffee thing."

"Where Marco almost died." The mother seem to lose a tiny bit of color from her cheeks.

"Ya that." Star visible cringed. "Well it didn't really matter either way because he didn't really wait and see if we could get another pair. He just went and got them before I even notice."

"Before you notice was about thirty years." Angie said slowly. Still not sure of the whole concept of time dilution. "Star, sweetie. Why didn't your parents want you to have scissors?"

"Oh, because I was supposed to stay on Earth. They thought that dimension hopping might be dangerous." The princess didn't like admitting to an authority figure how blatantly she had been breaking the rules given to her. "But it's no big deal. It's nothing I can't handle."

"Star, I was talking with Rafael." The women chose her words carefully. "And this might not be permanent but we decided on something and these details just made it a much easier choice to make.

Star nodded and Angie continued. "Your parents know a lot more about all this than I do and I should trust their judgment."

"Wait, Mrs Diaz." The mewman whined.

Angie finalized her thought. "New rule: No dimension traveling."

* * *

"Well that was a complete mess." Hekapoo muttered to herself. On the other hand it actually went a bit better than she thought. Not that whatever relationship she had with Mrs Diaz was trashed, but still she half expected things to get thrown.

The portal home died and the dimensional mistress moves only for the side of her foot to hit against a pot. It was just there on the ground for some reason. That wasn't where she normally keeps the utensils.

Speaking of mess, now that she was actually paying attention her how kitchen was a complete garage heap. Ah oh.

She walked down one room and yep, it was trashed too. Clean up had definitely been bumped up on the list of chores she had to do. Stone doors were missing from their passageways, probably explained by the rubble on the ground. On the other hand the rubble could also had been the work of the missing urns, and the big hole in the ceiling.

Rhombulolus better have a freaking good explanation for all this.

There was moaning and she froze. It was faint, footsteps would overpower it. Traveling down her home it got closer and she still hadn't seen hide nor hair of her baby or her guardian.

She hated to admit, Rhombulus was a commissioner and handle himself and a baby for an hour or two, but she was a tiny bit worried. That feeling only intensified when she got to the edge of the next room and started to push the door open. She had barely shifted it when the moans grew louder.

Her heart actually skipped a beat. She was more surprise at that than whatever was behind the door. She cursed under her breath and steeled herself.

The door flew open. Her feet were in the air, there was no time spared to assess the situation. She clapped and it was as if a miniature sun grew between her palms. It died as quickly as it came, forming two scissors blades which she gripped in each hand.

Her torso twisted as she posed. The blades spun so they could be held in reverse grips. She was ready for a fight.

"Hekapoo." She wasn't prepared for Rhombulus upside down tangled up in chains that hung from the ceiling.

"Rhombulus" Hekapoo eyes widen and her arms dropped. She looked around the destroyed home, "Where is Minerva?"

As if on cue there was a ferocious roar. The demoness looked to the direction of the howl only to get a face full of dust.

Her wall exploded.

"Over there." Hekapoo heard the commissioner whine.

When the ash dispersed she could see the family pet looking pretty excited that she was home. She was happy to see Nacho but she was much happier to see her daughter sitting on the dragon cycle's back.

Maybe sitting wasn't the correct word. The baby was more clinging onto the dragon's handles, using her supreme baby grip. Her baby butt didn't quite reach the seat, instead it dangled a inch over it. She had a pair of sunglasses. Hekapoo had no idea that she had even owned a pair, but there was her baby almost proud of to wear the specs.

There was a fit of baby giggles. Hekapoo didn't know if it was because she was home, if Minnie was having fun with Nacho or if it was because she was please at the utter destruction she had caused.

The mother looked up at the guardian "How?"

The kid couldn't even stand yet.

Rhombulolus could only whine. Well whine and shift in and out of consciousness.

The red headed commissioner slapped her face. She couldn't kid herself. This wasn't surprising at the least. All this did was remind her exactly why she hired a babysitter despite having the ability to be literally everywhere at once, also why she paid Kelly a fortune just for taking care of the brat. "Hopefully 'daddy' knows exactly what he signed up for."


	12. Chapter 12

"I'm dying." Two words repeated. Was it any surprise when Jackie abandoned her bag? It was only weighing her down. Was it surprising when she threw her board down; it's wheels up in the air, spinning? She charged through the passageway. It didn't have a door, but that didn't matter. If there had been one, she would've only broken through. There was no force on Earth that would stop her.

The only barrier that stood to her challenge had been curtains which were easily moved.

"I'm dying" was repeated, but the context had changed as she saw a game console between two dark hands. Across from the giant mitts were another pair, much smaller and slender.

These hands were connect to her best friend, holding a console of her own. She sat in a uncomfortable looking seat, but she was making the most of it. Her legs were crossed on it.

Janna lowered the game, "Yo, Thomas. My butt actually made it inside this time around. Playing a game with your old man."

"And I'm totally dying here." There was a grunt and the large arms jokingly jerked the console downwards. His elbows ruffled the sheets of his bed.

Jackie eyes traveled from his arms up to his face. The slim cueball gave her a playful frown. "I thought kids your age were suppose to respect old men like me."

"Respect means I don't go easy on you." Janna inputted a couple more commands with no expression on her face other than a smirk that lasted a fraction of a second, "Though this is getting embarrassing. Come on Jack, I need a new opponent here. I'm starting to feel like I'm kicking around a kitten."

"I'm not that bad." The man playfully scoffed.

Janna paused for a moment. Looking at the man and giving him a moment chance to double back on that statement. When he didn't take his words back she only muttered "If you say so."

"Oh you didn't" The beginnings of puppy dogs eyes could be seen, an interesting sight on a fully grown man. He swallowed his pride and from where he was sitting turned as best he could to Jackie, "Honey, avenge your father."

The man raised both arms above his head and shook his fist to the heavens above. "Avenge me."

Jackie rolled her eyes, but she didn't seem annoyed at the antics. In fact there was a shy but noticeable smile on her mug. "Fine dad."

She stepped around his bed, the center of the enclosed curtain and took a seat next to her best friend. She leaned forward to grab the console. Her dad let her have it and slid down underneath his sheets.

"Nice to go against someone who knows what they're doing. Your dad is a major button masher." Janna brought the handheld closer to her face. Everytime she flick the analogue it made a pronouce ring.

Jackie simply nodded, allowing the music of the game to fill the air. It was accompanied by the sound of digitalized jabs and slashes giving no real indicated of who was winning.

The man relaxed. His head was flat against his pillow but his eyes were on the two girls. He had a natural smile.

It reflected on their excitement as they played with one another and it grew as they grew more excited. Janna started to swing her arms side to side, going so far to tap her elbow against his daughter side who took it in stride.

From what he could gather, the situation was looking dire for Ordonia. She was muttering complaints such as "Stop spamming Thomas," and as her grunts and groans increased in both frequency and volume. As she grew desperate so did her measures and she reached over. Janna allowed her fingers to travel to Jackie just where the hem of her shorts meant her skin and started to tickle her.

Jackie flinched sharply, stabbing her elbow down to shield herself from the assault. She wanted to say something obviously but chose to stay quiet until the job was done. She eventually did let out a fit of giggles as Janna quickly adapted to her defense and curled her wrist around the arm.

"Janna, stop." Jackie chuckled and the blonde's own fingers moved faster. Her personal depersation clearly affected her gameplay ever so slightly.

Seeing the opening in the skater's armor, Janna knew to go for the kill and faster than Jackie could react she found Janna's hand had moved to the console itself. "Janna, no." Jackie commanded but it was pointless as Janna interfered with her controls moving the analog in every which way while rapidly pressing a button on her own console.

"Janna, you damn cheater." Jackie had enough and put her foot down, literally. Using that leg to stand for just a second, she vaulted herself over to her friend. Her back was on Janna, but so was all her weight.

The sudden movement brought the controller out of reach and all Janna could do was swat Jackie's side as she slowly was crushed. "Thomas, your giant butt is on me."

"My giant butt is about to win." Jackie smiled. She ignored the blow, knowing it was only a desperate attempt to distract her from the fact that she was winning.

"Look at the two of you." The two of them shifted their gaze as the man on the bed laughed to himself. He was looking straight at them, but at the same time it seemed like he was peering at a completely different picture. "You girls don't change, do you?"

Jackie slid off her friend and nearly dropped on the floor before she landed down back to her own seat. Janna let out a weak puff of air from her nose, "I hope not. I'm pretty top tier, might've peaked already."

"You girls used to do the exact same thing just a couple years ago. Kept me up all night hearing you feud over whatever game you were playing. You had sleepovers with each other every single weekend."

Jackie nodded with a fond smile. She didn't have anything to say to defend herself nor did she want to. Those days were fun.

"Weekend." He tested the word out. The father couldn't reel back but he gave it a try, crushing his pillow back just an inch further. "What day is it? It's not the weekend yet is it? Jackie, You were here yesterday too."

"Close enough." The girl was hesitant to answer, "It's Friday" but she didn't lie.

The man's expression seemed well practiced. He had gone through the motions many times before. "Jackie, you know you can't-"

She knew exactly what he was going to say. There was no knew for him to finish. "Dad. Please. It's not going to kill me."

"We've been over this." He wasn't looking at her as he spoke. The man read his palms, his fingertips were on his brow. The headache was on the rise. "Your mother doesn't know you're here."

That wasn't a question, but a fact.

"You know I don't want this to affect you. You should be enjoying school."

There was a laugh. "You don't really 'enjoy' school, just survive it." Janna snarked.

A hand dropped down. The man's eyes traveled to his daughter's friend. "Janna." He whispered. Hearing his tone, without context, someone would think he was the troublemaker's father instead of the skateboarder's.

"She just needed a few days to hide away from her boyfriend." Janna promptly defended her friend's actions.

The confession brought a glare to her forehead like laser sights. Janna felt heat from the way Jackie scowled at her. The hat wearer could feel a small ball of sweat free itself from a pore and slowly unravel. She smiled nervously and mouthed, "I'm sorry."

"Boyfriend." The word seemed foreign to the adult. "My daughter. A boyfriend?"

"No dad." Jackie shook her head. "Not anymore."

Janna piped in before she had a chance to elaborate. "Nothing is official. I mean, you guys haven't really talked it out. You still like each other, right?"

"He has a kid, Jan."

It was almost incomprehensible the way Jackie muttered it, but her father could make it out. "A kid? How old is this guy?"

"My age, dad."

The man punched the bed on both sides, propelling his torso up. "He cheated on my little girl. I'm going to show this punk who he's messing with."

Janna pushed on the air in front of her as if that would affect the man in front of her. "Easy old timer, we all know you're not suppose to be out and about."

"Even better. No one would point the finger at me. I have the perfect alibi." The father seemed almost proud of the sudden idea. "So who needs killing?"

"Marco Diaz."

"Marco Diaz." The father glared as if he could see the teen in question through the walls. He blinked. "Marco Diaz? That shy little guy? I remember thinking he had a crush on you when you were only this tall." He hovered a hand over the floor, picturing a height much smaller than Jackie was now.

"And there's his folks. I've met them. They seemed like such nice people." Rolling his head back, he could only imagine what they were going through. He sighed and than immediately got over it. He perked up, "Oh well, we're send them some flowers for the funeral. Janna, you got a shovel on you?"

"Dad." Jackie whined, though it was hard to tell if it was because she didn't want her dad moving more than he should or if it was because the man was very verbally discussing murder.

Her friend drew attention to herself. "As much as I normally would be into this, I got to stop you right there. First, I'm honestly offended you would think that I wasn't always within a ten foot radius of a shovel at any given time."

"Janna." Her friend really wasn't helping Jackie out.

Janna scratched her chin, getting into the more important detail. "Second: This isn't completely Marco's fault."

The man narrowed his eyes. The question in his stare was blunt. Janna explained, "We got some magic biz going on."

"Magic." The father stated, his eyes remained on her.

Janna couldn't explain it any better. Could she got into detail about what she heard. The alternate dimension, the time difference, the other worldly entity. She was sure that the fact she and Jackie even went to class with a magical girl was only mentioned casually and without deep analysis for the man's sake.

"Magic." It looked like he could taste the very word when he spoke it. There seemed to be a spell that calmed him and soon his head hit the pillow once more. "Makes things a bit complicated, doesn't it."

There was a weak smile shared between the father and daughter. It soon faded as he reached for her. His palm cupped her cheek and he asked, "How are you?"

"Fine, dad." Jackie smiled, or tried to.

Whatever she facade she could muster, her father saw right through it. "Janna?"

"Internalizing it as is normal." Janna who had returned to her game, gave her diagnosis of the situation. Once again feeling the death glare, she quickly whined. "I don't know why you're looking at me like that. It's the truth isn't it?"

"I had a feeling that was the case." Jackie's father looked straight up like he was offering a tiny prayer.

"I know, right. Janna laughed without looking up from the console screen. "I swear one day, she's gonna snap and down some jerk who drilled into her at the wrong time."

Janna threw her thoughts into the air, "Letter opener in the throat. Your boss yelled at you for using the wrong font one too many times."

"Tragic." The father sobbed, joining into the farce. "It was his fault for not understanding the difference between Arial and Times New Roman."

Jackie brought her eyes down to her palm. She muttered to herself. "I'm starting to regret every decision I've ever made that brought me between the two of you."

He probably should've have found his daughter's suffering so amusing but he couldn't help the wide smile on his mug. "Sorry, it's just that you were always like that. Took everything in stride even when it wasn't healthy."

"The same since the day I met you." A haze surrounded him, "A little girl waist deep in water. A scratch the side of a fork on her arm. She barely had a tear in her eye."

He shook his head, but the cloud didn't disperse, "And not a peep when I found you. Even when I took you to the emergency room. You swallowed something down there. Barely even realised it, you were so quiet. Had to get your stomach pumped."

"I remember dad." Jackie found that she had to shallow down something. It wasn't a day that she liked to remember, but one she had to treasure anyway.

There was a hitch in his voice. He grabbed his daughter's hand. It almost felt like the sound waves were stabbing his throat on their way out and he needed her just to get through it. "Me and your mom made a promise to take care of you and I messed it up."

"Dad, don't say that." Her eyes grew cloudy and while her vision became slightly blurred, his did too.

"You been perfect since the day I found you and I after I fell. I didn't want this to happen to you. You shouldn't be here. You should be at school." He squeezed.

"Dad." She whined a bit, but got no answer.

"Can you hear me. Dad?" She place her free hand on his shoulder and tried to move it about but he was solid like a lump of bricks. He just continued to mutter to himself even as his breath grew so irregular that he wasn't truly even making sound.

Jackie shot up, her hand over her mouth. It's presence shoved down a scream. She took three fast but large steps. She nearly fell, but held herself up with the doorless frame. She screamed "I need someone!"

Down the other side of the hall, "Someone get in here!"

She didn't get her sentence fully out as nurses began to rush in past her. The wind pressure from them was almost enough to knock her off her feet, not that there was much strength in them to begin with.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and she clutched it in hers. She was turned around. Janna met her face to face, eye to eye. "Jackie, they know what they're doing. It's going to be okay."

"My dad-" She choked.

"Will be okay. You understand?" Janna supplied her own answer. She nodded her head viciously as if that would make Jackie understand her words better. "I'm gonna call your mom. You got it, I'm going to be right back."

Janna let go and Jackie nearly dropped. She wandered somewhere. It didn't matter where. Jackie just knew she was alone. She fell into a crouch, low and surrounds into the crease of her arms. "This can't be happening."

"I think I've caught you at a bad time." There was a voice. It sounded older than her, but not by too much. A shadow overtook her form. There was a figure, tall. That was all anyone could describe of it. Any feature he has was covered by a large black cloak.

There was a spectre of some sort in one hand. He double checked it. He pulled on his robe, down until it revealed a very human looking face. His hair was red, so was his goatee. Both were long and stringy, but it was his eyes that she struck out to her. They were her's. He had her eyes. "I wished I could've chosen a better moment, Jacquline."

* * *

Vhin had a routine. He would wake up in the morning and water the flowers. He kept some hung from the window of his small apartment. It was during than that he would wave at whoever passed by. It was usually the mail man but it wasn't rare to see someone on a bicycle or a gaggle of the neighborhood kids.

After that he would make himself breakfast, some fish, mashed up with some onions. He would start the gas on his stove and spit a small flame and the meal was ready soon enough.

He would walk to his chamber mirror and groom. Clean some dust that was between his scales, maybe put a bit of polish on them. Give them a nice golden look instead of the plain yellow they usually were.

A bowler hat would be placed on his head and a pair of glasses, balanced on his long snout. There was always the possibility that he would have to change at work, but he liked to look his best during the walk there and back. Also he was a particular of the bright blue bowtie that he often wore and wanted to show it off as much as possible.

He would pick one of his flowers before he made the trip. He would travel down a spiral on the hill his building was on, following a path to the center of the busy city. He would smile to those he passed by but only offer a "good morning" if they did first. When he had walked across the brick bridge, over the river that ran through the center town, he would stop by the statue there.

He than would bent down before the golden monument. It was a strange form. It didn't look like any kobold would look. It didn't have scales nor a tail like a kobold. It was also rather big and curvy while most kobolds tended to be skinny and flat, but that made sense. After all wouldn't a god beyond kobold understanding have a form that was beyond their understanding?

Vhin would say his respects for the god, Hekapoo and would march straight to his practice, just a block away.

His assistant, a boy with green scales would greet him as he opened the door and they would exchange words before he went to the back room. He would take his flower and place it in a jar on his desk. Any flower that started to lose it color would be thrown away. Unless of course he was feeling sentimental that day than he would press the petals in a book he kept next to his medical journals.

The patients would start coming it. He would answer their questions and concerns and more often than not everything would be minor at most. Sometimes he felt he was more there for peace of mind rather than any actually ailments.

When it was late. He would walk over to a friend of his who worked the market. They would sell him what they had leftover for a cheap price, plus a salmon he could use for breakfast the next day. It helped sweeten the deal. He would carry the paper bag close to him on the way back. He wasn't the biggest fan of the dark and this was considering that kobolds had much better night vision than most. His feet would scurry up the hill to his home and he would almost slam his front door behind him.

When he no longer felt afraid of whatever he had imagined to be creeping in the dark, he would make dinner. His food was almost experimental at times, base on the ingredients he had available but he ate it anyway. After everything it would be off to bed.

He did that everyday, except for the 6th day where he would wander to the park to feed the pixie dragons.

There were of course special occasions. One time when he had gone down the hill he had spotted a crowd that even the city had trouble holding. Some pushed to get to the source of the commotion and they were pushed back. He wanted to get a look himself.

He got his wish. Someone say him and shouted, "It's the doctor. She wants to see him."

The people parted like a valley between two mountains. He felt nervous, he didn't know what was happening but he didn't like being the center of attention. The only hint of everyone's excitement was the path that was forming from the other side of the audience. Eventually he saw the last two kobolds split up and he knew what they saw.

It was the goddess. Her flesh was as white as chalk and she had a long trail of fur that shot down from head. Color aside, she looked exactly like the statue he has passed on the way to work for the last twenty years. Though looking at her stomach, he couls note thay she looked much heavier.

There was no one between them when she acted. The god interlaced her claws into his bow tie and pulled. She looked right in his eye and spoke, "Get this thing out of me."

What would you do if god came down to earth and started giving commands? You'd probably listen. So god was given a bed to rest in while the the doctor tried to make head and tail of her enlarged stomach and strange muscle spasms.

"If it'll help. You can hold my claw." The assistant was providing excellent bedside manner. The goddess took him up on his offer, grasping his digits immediately.

"Oh that's kinda tight" the green kobold chuckled nervously. He knew she was god, but her grip was a bit stronger than what he was expecting.

"This is a first for me." Vhin muttered as he peeked under the blanket they had given her.

There was a audible crack and the poor green dragon man fell to his knees. He wasn't sure if his arm could normally make that angle but Hekapoo was doing a good job in making it stick there. "What do you mean this is your first time? I thought you were a doctor."

"Yes a doctor, not a vet."

There was another large snap and green scales started to visible cry. "Are you calling me some sort of animal."

"No goddess." any groveling looked ridiculous while the medical expert was front of the expecting mother, "It's just that most of our kind lay eggs. The process compared to this is not as intense."

The punching bag slumped into a puddle like mess as Hekapoo let go out his claw. She took a deep breath and exhaled, "This is what I get for populating this place with reptiles."

The kid was completely stubborn, but soon enough the miracle of birth had kicked in and the multiverse welcomed to the world a brand new baby girl. The doctor gave himself a pat on the back and wrapped the baby up before handing it over to the new mother.

She felt a relief as the ordeal's end. Her body felt exhausted yet unbelievable light, the exception being the dead weight in her arms.

Was there supposed to be a spark, an instant connection to the lump that had been essentially part of her for nine months?

"Hey." She called out to the newborn. She must've not been loud enough because the thing was still just there, just kind of sucking on air. "Hey, do something."

It preferred to do the opposite.

"Oh now you're in no rush to go anywhere." Was this normal? Did babies just not move around at all. It wasn't completely still. She guess that was a good thing. It just gently frail under the blanket. She wished it had been so calm when it was in her. A few of those kicks hurt.

She thought she should say something. "Cute horns."

She was afraid to touched them. They were so tiny. Like little pieces of candy corn. "They felt much bigger on the way out. Something so small can do so much damage."

Hekapoo frowned. She looked around but her faithful worshippers have all left the room. She was completely alone.

"Guess I'm doing this."


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Starting with this chapter onward I'm going to put notes above and below my chapters. I know that this is common practice but it's new to me. I didn't do so before because my AO3 account was basically my main account while my account was more to back up in case Ao3 ever exploded or something of that nature. Though I realized that most people who read here don't also read on Ao3 and while I can PM folks who review my fics, this doesn't work for those reviewing anonymously.**

 **This chapter was actually posted on Ao3 months ago. I'm double posting both this chapter and the next chapter that I just wrote here back to back for that reason. Because this was my back up for my fics and I find loading stories to be a little clunky here I try to post chapters and one shots in huge groups. So when I post a update for Red Bundle, chances are that I'm also loading a new story or adding a chapter to another fic. I'll try to be more on top of my updates here.**

 **Finally considering this is my main story I want to thank ADdude who doesn't review here but on Ao3, I tend to keep an eye out for him considering he basically has a better version of this story called Like Father, Like Daughter. I'm not caught up with it but I would recommend it. Also would like to thank Mr. Haziq for telling me to use dividers because I forgot they existed until he did. Dividers make everything so much easier to read. Thank you everyone who favorited, followed, reviewed up to this point. It really motivates me to continue this story.**

* * *

"So today's the day." Hekapoo stuffed random items into a velvet sack. It was nice, far nicer than most of the things in her house which made it suitable for holding the bottle, toys and whatever else would be needed for the weekend. She bobbed and weaved in and out of the kitchen gathering what was necessary.

"Don't remind me." Hekapoo responded. She was also sitting at her kitchen table, face down, nose smushed.

"Hey, we been keeping everything pretty linear around here ever since Marco found out about our bundle of joy." There was a clatter as the first Hekapoo pushed a few knick knacks that were in her way. "If we really wanted to avoid this we could just speed this place up a couple of years."

"We could." Hekapoo Two readjusted her head so that she rest on her chin. She let out a groan, "But than he would whine."

The first Hekapoo presented herself to the first. She place the sack down gently. "Why don't we allow the kid to decide?"

There was a giggle. At her highchair there was Minnie, much bigger than she was when she was born. She could even move around a bit as she so gloriously demonstrated to Rhombolus the day prior. The baby squished the sack, each hand hitting the sides simultaneously. Maybe she knew her toys were in there or maybe she was fascinated at the new material cause she gave it a pinch and a few more swats until it unbalanced and felt to the floor.

"So was that a 'yes, prevent me from meeting my still teen father' or 'no, don't do that?'" Hekapoo 2: Return of Hekapoo gauged the infants reaction.

The only response she got was the girl's awing at the sack on the ground and the effect that the miracle of gravity had on it.

Hekapoo hissed, "You're no help at all."

Minnie laughed and slapped her chair until she let out a long wet raspberry. Hekapoo was a grown woman, but even than a small part of her felt that her kid was mocking her plight.

There was a ball of smoke which formed in between the two Hekapoos. They were already whining by the time it began to speak. "Hekapoo."

It clear a bit, but not completely revealing a skull in it's center. It's irisless face gazed at both the figure sitting and then the figure standing up. It greet the clone, "Hekapoo."

The redhead, the one at the table waved her hand lazily, a flame flipped over and put itself out. The Hekapoo who had gathering the supplies didn't complain as she vanished out of reality. The one with her chin pressed against the table spoke, "Sorry Hekapoo isn't here right now."

"Very funny." The skull didn't think it was something to laugh out loud to, but he did have a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Can't hear you. We're breaking up." Hekapoo shot out a few more excuses.

"We're not on a mirror." The skull argued.

Hekapoo scoffed. She kicked her head back till it hung over the back of the chair. "Doesn't matter. Go away Omnitraxus"

"Hey, don't be like that. I just wanted to talk a little." Minnie caught Omnitraxus Prime's eye. "About this little dear."

Minerva didn't blinked as the entity caught her attention. There was a small amount of drool in the corner of her mouth, but she couldn't risk for it to distract her from him.

"Why is everyone bothering me about my daughter?" Hekapoo shouted upwards to some mysterious being.

"Well it's just that you have a daughter." Prime hesitated, "And you didn't really tell me."

"Was I supposed to?" Hekapoo crossed her arms. She couldn't possibly see how the other commissioner was relative to all of this.

"Well ya, I mean we are family and I got time-space powers and you got time-space powers." He rambled on as an uninterested demoness stared. "I thought we were a team, y'know like Rhombulus and Lektmet. The time space duo."

"Omni, what are you talking about?" She said and the talking head gave a whimper. Hekapoo massage her temples. She wasn't sure if a migraine and a headache were two different things or not. Either way she was experiencing both of them. "We were never closer then we had to be. What is this really about?"

Omnitraxus might've not had skin or muscle but he had centuries of experience to adopt a face that made it look like he been stabbed right in the back. "I'm just trying to figure out how this all happened."

"Well when a man and a woman love each other very much, the woman challenges the man to a sixteen year long duel." Hekapoo started her personal version of the birds and the bees.

"You know what I mean." The floating entity dismissed her mockery, "It's not like we're mortals. This doesn't really happen to us."

"Why not?" Hekapoo thought about it, "We can eat and drink. There's no reason why I shouldn't have been able to poop that rugrat out. It was always a possibility."

Her guest considered it, "That does make sense, but why now?"

"I forgot my birth control."

Omnitraxus wasn't eating or drinking. In fact it was hard to judge whether he could consume anything in his bodiless form, but by some miracle he nearly did choke. "You forgot your birth control?"

"Ya." Hekapoo made it clear that she didn't wish to elaborate further.

"After centuries of existence, you just forgot your birth control." Prime acted like didn't believe he heard her correctly the first time.

His fellow commissioner shrugged. "What can I say? I forgot. I'm not perfect"

"Huh." The floating skull didn't know what he had expected but it wasn't exactly that. Regardless he moved on to his next line of questioning. "So why didn't you tell us?"

Hekapoo hummed like she was considering her answer. It was blatantly obvious that she was not. "Didn't feel like it."

"Hekapoo. I can see endless timelines with endless versions of both of us. I don't believe everything single version of you will be this stubborn."

"You can really take the fun out of things Omnitraxus." Hekapoo frowned, "Okay so long long time ago. Some unseen unknowable force popped out Glossaryck, sent him on some random mission to spread magic across the universe."

"That close enough, but I don't see how that is relevant." The skull was clearly hushed.

"Getting to that." Hekapoo sat up. "So universe popped out Glossaryck, and he ended up with the people of Mewni, spreading their culture and influence. In order to make it easy, he popped out us."

Omnitraxus didn't interrupt. He gave the red head all the time she needed to finish her thought.

"I popped out this little girl, now what?" Hekapoo laid down the question. "When this tyke becomes adult size, does she belong with the commission? Does she stick with me making scissors with me for the next stretch of immortality?"

"I don't know. I guess she will choose." It was obvious that the guardian of of space-time hadn't given the idea of independent action much weight.

"Will she? Or will dear old 'dad' float in all day hinting that my daughter has some destined duty that she'll be stuck with for the rest of existence?" Hekapoo massaged her temples. Her vision was focus on the table, or maybe she was looking through it. "Cause commissioner or not, we do our thing. Omnitraxus: manage the timelines, Rhombulus: jail the criminals, Father Time: keep things linear."

"I never felt like my job was a burden" Prime was certain of that, but he still felt nervous, "Did you?"

"No. Mewni is stuck with me. They could fire me and I still be compelled to keep the place from burning down. That what we were made to be, we can't help it." Hekapoo laughed, or she did something that sounded like it. Didn't feel like a laugh though. "But what do I want for this brat? Since you're forcing me to be uncomfortably honest, my first gut instinct was to duck out. Keep her in my pocket until she decided what she wanted to be."

The skull frowned. "Well that's foolish."

"Ya I know." Hekapoo added, "Things don't go well when any of us decides to do our own thing."

"No," Omnitraxus refuted, "Because you believed I would force my niece to do something she didn't to do."

Hekapoo didn't realized that her back had felt a little tense. Not until it suddenly shagged, allowing her chin to drop into her palm of her hands being propped up on the table by her elbows. "Planning on spoiling her, huh?"

It seemed that the serious talk was swiftly smothered by the entity's words, for the moment anyway. It helped Hekapoo didn't really want to talk about it in the first place. She felt embarrassed by what she had said.

She didn't feel like it was over and done with, but the peace would be nice for a little bit until it came up again. Forcing someone to play a role was the exact type of thing the commission would do.

* * *

Jackie where are you?

Your mom is on her way.

She didn't even ask me why I was here when I called her.

Though I'm probably gonna get a ear full soon.

Your dad is alright.

They're letting me back in.

I get it. You want to probably wanted to be alone in case…

But he's fine. He's going to be fine.

Just text me anything so I know you're alright.

Please.

The last bubble blew up on her phone and for a moment she thought about texting. Jackie hit the 'o' and the 'k' but she could only get her thumb to hover over send. She could only curse to herself when she put the screen back to sleep. "I got to head out."

"You haven't been listening to a thing I said, have you?" Had he been talking? Jackie guess he has, but if she was honest, it had been white noise.

Jackie pushed of the fence. Somehow he talked her up onto the roof. Dumb in retrospect. She had no idea this guy was. Only who he claimed to be.

The man in the black robe raised a single hand as if commanding her to halt. "Look I understand."

Jackie shook her head, "If you did, you wouldn't be trying."

He licked his lips before he spoke. Maybe they were dry. "It's because I understand that I'm trying."

"Dad needs me." Jackie knew that only as a fact.

The man's green eyes grew wide, but he nodded. "Yes he does."

The blonde began to move to the door. She kept her vision on him. It was an excellent imitation of weary prey. "Bye."

Her fingers traced the door handle but she didn't begin to grip it before the red hair man spoke again. "Jacqueline, there isn't much time."

She breathed in, "Ya." She breathed out, "Maybe."

The knob turned. The hinges made a snap creek long squeak. Her arms felt weak. It was like she barely had the energy to escape.

"Jacqueline, listen." The man ordered her. He kept his voice low, the same way you would to fein politeness, but there was a growl behind it.

Jackie didn't care. She had more important things to worry about. "What do you even want?"

"You have to come with me." He laid it down to her. That was his mission and he wouldn't leave until it was fulfilled.

"No." There was a snort. She found it so crazy that her sense left her for a moment. It shot back into her quickly. Jackie founded herself spitting another "No," at the man, with the same tone one would scold a dog.

"Jacqueline, I'm asking for you."

Jackie balled her fist for a second before mustering the strength to uncurl them. Touching her fingers together she raised her hand and stabbed the air repeatedly. "Dude, I don't even know you."

She looked like she began to squeeze an invisible ball with her raised hand. The difficulty of the imaginary task caused her to bare her teeth. "You're what, my brother and now you want me to go off to some place I haven't been to since I was what, four, five?"

"That about sums it up. It would be so important for father" The red hair man nodded, "and I believe it might be therapeutic for you."

The bubble popped and she swept the hand through her hair, "I already knew I was adopted and I just got to say, I'm over it. I've been over it for years."

"I understand. I would be angry too." He tried diplomatically.

"Nope, not even angry. Over it." It didn't sound completely convincing, but she was irritated at that moment, if for no other reason than he because he was delaying her.

"Would you please reconsider for me?" Was he trying to give her puppy dog eyes? She couldn't believe it. What made it more annoying was that the tone, the expression was all something she would do.

Jackie scrunched her face. "Don't even know your name."

"It's me, Jakey." He coughed, "Jacob, I mean. I used to tell you to call me that before."

"Jacob." She avoided any nicknames, "There is just things more important to me right now. Listen, I know what's it like to see someone you love suffering." In fact he was keeping her away from said love one, a thought she decided not to vocalize. "But you want me to see a man I just don't know, while my dad is downstairs. He was there were your's wasn't"

"He wanted to be." He said quickly like he had to say something before Jackie walked away. "Do you think any of us knew where you were, that you were even alive? I just remember one that our mother telling me you were gone and your caretaker was jailed."

"You found me now." She countered.

Jacob nodded, "Yes and it was much harder than you realized. Earth is the prime example of 'the last place you'll look.' I have to admit that the crone might've lost her mind but she did choose the one place it would be nearly impossible to find you."

"It must've been hard for you?" Jackie guessed. When had been young when she came to Earth. If the journey was hard for him, she had no real way of knowing. "But, I'm sorry. My answers still 'no.'"

"Wait." Jackie cursed under her breathe. Maybe she was allowing the guy too much empathy. She was getting sick by the distraction. She allowed him to speak, "That man downstairs. You won't come because he's ill, correct?"

Thomas glared at him.

"Oh right, dumb question." He had the decency to give a sheepish smile. "Rhetorical really. I'm just wondering if you would come if there was a way for that man not to be. Sick, that is."

* * *

The hook pulled on the red yarn. It dragged the material through a hoop, letting it go only pull another strand. Angie repeated this process again and again. It was slow work. Slower than it usually would take her. She was skilled at crafts but she found her normally steady hands disobeying her.

She heard a cough and looked up.

Her husband had the biggest grin and a hammer in one hand. He presented before him a wooden gate, about waste high. It was crude, but she believed in her husband's carpentry enough to trust it was functional before he moved on to the next task.

They didn't have much time to get ready for the baby.

The last snitch unravelled and someone cursed under their breaths. It was probably her. She would just have to start again.

It remained forgotten as the doorbell rang.

The hook tapped against the floor as the mother dropped it. The smile her husband had from completing his latest creation was gone. He had a blank look as his eyes were locked on the door. Angie looked at him and than peered at the front entrance herself. She tapped her palms against her lap twice, "Okay."

She didn't know what she was saying 'okay' to. Should she get the door or should Rafael? He hadn't moved when she announced that so many she had mistakenly volunteered, no matter how much of a mistake she thought that was.

She stood up anyway. Normally she would've prelude her march to the door with a jolly "Coming," but she didn't feel up to that step, instead she creeped experimentally over to the handle. Her steps were silent except was that a squeak? There was a squeaky floorboard.

She thought about excessively testing that instead of moving to the door. Unfortunately her better thoughts won out and she reached the door quicker than she had hoped.

Working automatically she opened the door.

She didn't see her son, her son's daughter nor that woman who tricked her.

Angie saw a woman, brown skin, straighten hair that just kissed her shoulders.

"Sasha?" Angie asked. She couldn't say that this was her last guess at who was rapping at her door, but it certainly wasn't her first.

"Hey Angie, haven't seen you since back to school night." The woman, Sasha smiled, or at the very least she tried to. It seemed like she did so out of habit more than emotion. Her eyes seemed tired, mostly baggy.

It wasn't help that she seem to be drifting off standing up. She snapped out of it and asked, "I'm sorry. I should've called, but I just needed to check real quick. Is Jackie here?"

"Jackie?" Angie looked past the woman. She understood why the woman might check for her daughter here, but Angie didn't know how to tell her about the girl's relationship with her son. Angie herself have a clue how the girl had taken the news or if she even had received the news at all.

She decided on, "No. No, she hasn't been here in a while."

The woman seemed to surrender at thay answer. To Angie it looked like gravity could overtake her at any minute.

"Alright." Sasha nodded, "Just if you hear from her could you give me a call, or better yet, have Jackie call?"

Angie adopted a weary smile, inviting the woman if she desired to vent. "Is everything alright?"

The guest eyes wandered in the air for a moment, "What?" She blinked. "Yes, I'm fine. Just life, you understand?"

Angie wished she didn't. Considering the current events she could only laugh, "Life can be full of surprises."

The woman stood there. There was a momentary understanding between the two of them.

"Mom?" Just like that the spell was broken. "Mrs Thomas?"

Sasha stepped aside. A couple inches from where she had been standing was the young man of the house. Star wasn't too far behind him.

The woman seemed like she wanted to greet the two teens but all the came out of her mouth was a huff of dry air. She turned back to Angie, "Just if you hear anything, please."

"I understand." The mother's nod conveyed that she would prioritize it.

Marco and the woman moved passed one another as she left. Star leaned towards her friend and with a low voice asked, "Who's that?"

"That's Jackie's mom." Marco answered, though he seemed confused.

With that realization, Star spun on the tip of her toes and shouted "Bye Jackie's mom. Bye."

There was no doubt that Sasha Thomas had heard Star, but she entered her car without sparing a glance at the girl.

"Is everything alright?" Marco asked his mom.

Angie wasn't sure if he was asking if everything was alright with her or if everything was alright with Mrs Thomas, but either way her answer was "I don't know."

It was quickly revised "I don't think so."

"Oh." Marco looked inside. There was her half finished project on the couch and the baby proof gate his father had made among other hasty put together items. "Is everything ready?"

Inside?

Outside?

Inside but in some place they didn't expect, like a closet or a cabinet?

That could be fun. She could scream surprise as someone went to get cereal, give them an heart attack and add to the short, but major list of reason her baby's grandmother hated her.

She probably should play it safe and open the portal right outside the Diaz residence. Try to play down her nigh-omnipotence; act quaint.

Hekapoo did so. She slice the air easily with one hand as she held Minnie close to her in the other. The baby was wrapped up tight in her father's hoodie. Lucky guy, her and Omnitraxus' little chat was enough to bored the kid. She was down first round against the sandman.

Better that Minerva was a sleep. The kid can bring down hell sometimes when she see her mother leave.

If it was one thing she wasn't going through today it was hell. Extremely awkward exchange with her baby daddy's parents, maybe but she was going to be without a baby for a bit over two days. Hekapoo was going to have a stay home vacation because she was worth it. Maybe sun bath outside her house.

She dressed for the occasion too: Beach shirt, beach skirt. She had to poke her horns through her beach hat, but she felt it was worth it to complete the look.

What really brought it all together was a large pair of sunglasses which will hopefully do a lot to hide her expression in case her baby's grandmother freaked out again.

Not that she was planning on that happening. She had no time to go through hell. She was on vacation.

Hekapoo raised her sunglasses up a bit, just to get a better look at child in her arms. It was just to double check if she actually had been asleep. She wouldn't look pass the kid to try and pull one over on her.

In fact she dared the kid to make a fuss.

Instead all the kid did was expand her nosils as she snoozed. Of course when she's not going to look after her, the brat chose not to be a ball of energy.

It was almost enough to cause her to roll her eyes, or maybe she did roll her eyes. No one would be able to tell behind the sunglasses. That is what they were there for.

With her free hand the mother reached her a string and pulled. The sack by her feet rose. She juggled it a bit by, lowering it a bit only to yank it back up just before it could touch the ground. Base on her judgement it was heavy. What did she pack and how did she fit it in there?

"Must be a mom thing." She spoke to Minnie despite the only response being a puff of air as the baby exhaled. "You should definitely be good while muscles is fumbling around."

Hekapoo allowed the sack to rest on the ground once more. Raising a fist in the air, she allowed it to hung in front of the Diaz residence front door.

There was no harm in a triple check. She pivoted away from the door and took a long hard look at her daughter. Strands of brown hair stuck out from the hoodie. She found the color a bit funny now that she knew who she had inherent it from. She adjusted the bundle a bit, trying to cover her as best as she could.

It was hard considering the horns got in the way. "I swear they're getting bigger everyday."

She took a step behind her but stopped as she realized that she was closer to the door than she thought. Hekapoo allowed the arch of her back to rest on the frame.

The mother took a deep breath so she could puff her chest. With one motion she spun back around, putting her back face to face with the door.

The fist went back up.

She twitched, "Guess I'm doing this" and allowed her knuckles to tap.

* * *

 **A/N: Since I'm posting the next chapter now, gonna skip the end chapter note.**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Half the time these notes are basically gonna be copy-pasted from Ao3:**

 **"There's a lot of drinking in this chapter. Wasn't planning that. It just came out that way."**

 **No seriously I don't know why so much drinking is in this chapter. I wasn't aiming for a theme. I basically wrote both halves separately.**

* * *

"Guess I'm doing this." Jackie with her pointer and thumb stroked a strain of hair, before tucking it behind her hair. She stared at the window of the carriage and saw water. It was just water and she had been looking out there for a good thirty minutes.

"Have you heard of Panacea?" No: that's basically how she answered.

When Jacob filled her in on exactly what that meant, she had to go. This was the only solution. Even if she had to deal with whatever it was on end of this route.

Jackie dropped her forehead to her palms. She had to meet her parents. Birth parents. How was that going to work? She didn't even remember their faces. Now she had to pretend to be glad to see them? Plus one of them were practically on their own death bed if she understood it correctly and she's gonna spend the whole time thinking about how she rather be somewhere else. Good thinking Jacob. This was sure to go smoothly.

Some weak stranger is gonna look up to her and tell her how beautiful she looks during his last moment. What was she gonna do, give him finger guns, 'right back at ya'?

"Hey Jackie, have you tried these?" There was chewing. Wait correction, there almost comically exaggerated chewing. Wrapping paper made a crack as it was torn by chocolate cover finger and with a single motion, Janna absolutely crushed the piece of candy.

"They have these chocolates shaped like little bottles." There wasn't even a fraction of a second between another sweet being freed from it's imprisonment and that same piece entering the girl's mawl.

"I thought you didn't drink Janna." Jackie looked up at her friend. Janna blinked. Guess she didn't understand the relevance of the question. The blonde elaborated "Those chocolates look like bottles cause they have booze in them."

"Huh?" Janna held one of the confections between her fingers and scanned it. After just a beat she shrugged "This is some good chocolate."

Jackie could tell, the box of then that Janna had already opened was nearly done and she didn't even wait to finish that box before she started emptying the contents of a second and third box into her backpack.

"So just so we're straight." Janna jimmered a few more chocolates into her bag, "Your brother showed up."

"Ya." Jackie answered.

"Your brother who neither of us knew about because you're were adopted after being abandoned by your crazy nan?" Janna seemed to paused between each sentence, ready for Jackie to correct when needed.

"Apparently."

"And apparently you kept secret from me that you can breath underwater cause we're in a carriage, being drawn by seahorses, leagues under the sea in a alternate dimension," Janna opened another box,

"Ya, I'm like a mermaid or something like that." Jackie answered, but her voice was shakey like she wasn't confident in her answer. "Like I don't really remember. It was some time ago."

Janna stared at her friend would could only pleas silently back. It felt awkward. Jackie had invited her friend along, but in the end she had no idea how the beanie wearing girl would react to this. That is until Janna licked a bit of chocolate off her thumb and said "Well?"

"Well what?" Jackie blinked.

"That guy is heading to the same place we are, right?" Janna confirmed, 'that guy' being Jackie's biological brother. "I mean we're a billion leagues under the sea and he's swimming. You can do the same thing right? Do you secretly have gills or-?"

Janna let the question trail off. She leaned forward. Her head shriveled trying to find any unusual markings on her friend's neck.

After a few moments Jackie had looked away and muttered "Ya, basically," before she started to shift. The change seem to align with a single breath. It was almost like chunks of flesh flipped like dominos revealing teal scales that armored portions of her arms from the tip of her fingers up to where her shirt covered. These scales invaded her legs, from where her feet was covered by her shows, up to her shorts and beyond.

Her face was mostly the same, but the scales went up her neck to the edge of her cheeks and while they did nothing to hide her hair, they did wrap behind her ears.

It was something Jackie hadn't done in a long time. She didn't think she could still do it, but there she was, showing her best friend her greatest secret.

"Cool." Janna almost lost her hold on the next piece of her chocolate. Almost.

"Ya." Jackie reached down and peeled off her socks and shoes, revealing that the scales went down to her toes, now partially webbed. "I can go full tail if I want. I just haven't in a long time. Where we're going there are a whole bunch of people who can do the same trick."

"And you don't sounded too excited about that." Janna pointed out.

"Down there is some kind of magical cure for dad. I just want to get in and get out quickly." Jackie plopped her sneakers next to her on the seat. "Thanks for having my back Jan."

"No problem." Janna shrugged before suddenly grinning. "Hey remember when the only thing you had to worry about was your boyfriend getting another girl pregnant?"

"Damn it Janna." Jackie would've groaned, by that line of questioning was just so Janna that she couldn't take any offence at it.

"But seriously." Her friend defended herself anyway, "That was yesterday. This is nuts."

* * *

Knuckles tapped against the door. Hekapoo was lucky she didn't lean into the door. The moment she touched it the thing threw open. The entity had expected an angry mother. Who she came face to face with was so much worse.

Star smiled "Hey Hekapoo," and before the commissioner could even greet her in kind the young mewman started to spasm. She leaned into Hekapoo, invading her personal space and cooed "And this must be Minnie."

Hekapoo wanted to scold the girl for speaking so loud, but she realized that the princess was probably speaking as low as she could. Besides what did it matter, her daughter was gonna be their problem for the weekend.

"You're here." Hekapoo's ears perked. She peered around the blonde. Standing there was her daughter's father.

Immediately whatever Star was saying was blocked out. Hekapoo shrugged, "Ya I'm here. Thought I would duck out?"

Marco hesitated, "Never doubted you for a second."

"Liar" Hekapoo snorted. "Now come on and take the brat. My arms are getting tired."

Marco stepped forward, but he was stop by a hip check. Star quickly took his place, scooping the snoozing baby. "Don't mind if I do."

"Star." Marco whined, "I haven't got the chance to hold her."

"If you want to carry something." Hekapoo kicked a thing. She had left the sack of Minerva's belongings at the base of the doorway.

His arm grabbed the neck of the sack and did nothing else even as Marco struggled and whined. "What's in here?"

"Everything you should need."

"For two days?" He couldn't imagine that everything in there was needed. "Any advice?"

"For the squirt? Ya, hire Kelly." Hekapoo laughed and she was the only one who did. Marco gave her a frown which caused her to roll her eyes at him from behind her sunglasses. "Fine. I left you some notes in the bag. Or at least my clone should've."

"And the kid is pretty open to about everything. That means you don't have to worry about her being too shy, but that also means she'll try to shove everything into her gaping mouth, so y'know try not to poison the baby." The mother continued, explaining the quirks of her child, sounded both excited and exacerbated at the same time. Hekapoo suddenly stomped her foot as she made a sharp turn directly towards Marco. With her finger stabbing him in the chest, she warned, "And never ever take eyes off her for even for a moment. You understand that?"

The only course of action Marco could think of was to raise his arms in surrender. He understood exactly where she was coming from. He tried to sound confident as he swore, "I'll take care of her. I promise. H-Poo."

She gave him a once over before slowly resetting to an idle position, "I'm going home and relaxing. You know where to find me when you realize you can't handle it."

With a flick of her wrist a portal sliced the entryway of the house in half.

She had set a foot in before and than the boy asked, "Wait, my moms upstairs. You don't want to maybe talk to her?"

Hekapoo dipped her lower half in, but spared a second to turn to him, "Ha. Ha. Funny," and than she was gone.

"Hold on, hold on. Grandma is coming down the stairs." Star and Marco turned to the sudden rattling of the steps as the matron of the house bulldozed her way down the steps. Angie came to a halt as she saw the sleeping baby in the princesses' arm. It died quickly as her eyes frantically darted around the room, "Oh um, Marco is-"

"Hekapoo already left mom."

"Oh thank god." The woman's chest seem to deflate flat, "I am not ready for that mentally."

* * *

It took another fifthteen minutes before they saw anything, but when they did they could only imagine it was like arriving to new york in a helicopter. The darkness of the ocean was gone, lit up by underwater tower's lights.

Jackie found it beautiful, but she wasn't left awestruck. She felt like she had seen it before and she probably had a long time ago. She however did take the opportunity to watch Janna. Her best friend was in a rare moment of excitement. Not the mischievous excitement she was known for but pure childlike excitement.

She pushed against the window as looked below and it almost seemed like she was prepared to break through the glass and race the carriage there.

They eventually docked. When the carriage pulled in, it looked sort of like a spaceship docking into a station. Maybe, Jackie wasn't really into scifi or space studies. What she did know was that the door of the carriage made a sort of water proof seal that allowed the two to walk right in to one of the underwater skyscrapers. They proceeded to a airport lobby? That was the best way she could describe it.

"Seriously?" Jackie stopped examining the decor the moment she heard the disbelief in Janna's voice.

It wasn't hard to find what she was exclaiming about.

"Oh ya. I guess this is a little bit too much." To match the theme of the place, her brother Jacob, last name currently unknown, was standing there holding a paper sign that read 'Jackie.' He quickly dumped it to the side.

"Like we just saw each other an hour ago when you decided to swim on ahead and meet us here." Janna's pupils flicked upwards, "Speaking of which, there was no bathroom in there. That could've been dangerous."

Janna pulled a chocolate bottle out of her pocket and began to unwrap it, giving Jackie a chance to speak up. "Thanks for getting a carriage for us."

"Ya, gotta compensate for my air breathing ways." Janna said between a bite.

"It wasn't any trouble." Jacob smiled, "We run these taxis constantly. Atlantis is a bit of a tourist attraction, unfortunately."

"Atlantis?" Janna cocked an eyebrow. "Never heard of it. Hey how come you couldn't just cut us straight in here?"

"Wish I could. The wards wouldn't allow it, plus tramorfidian crystals built right into the foundation." He stomped his foot as a visual cue. "But those were put there for a reason. This is a kingdom after all. It wouldn't be smart to just let anyone make a portal straight into the throne room. Besides the visitor still flow through, even if it's relatively hard to get in."

His cloak fluttered as Jacob turned around, beckoning the girls to follow him.

They did, but not without Janna crossing her arms, "Or out."

* * *

Hekapoo could say that when she got home. She really did relax. She relaxed the hell out of a beach chair which she spread right outside the dark plains of her front door. It wasn't exactly beach property but the chair was comfortable enough that she got a good long nap out of it. Besides she had the beach hat and sunglasses, it was a good enough substitute.

She wouldn't exactly tell this to anyone, but she woke up with a glop of drool running down her chin. She had to wipe that off quickly. She hadn't planned to spend the entire day sleeping. She shoved her vacation set up back into her humble adobe.

Scales gazed her leg. She nearly jumped before she realized that it was just Nacho. Just because Minnie wasn't around didn't mean he didn't go anywhere.

He purred at her and she immediately rolled her eyes, "I got it. Sorry I haven't given you lunch yet. You don't have to give me that look."

She wandered over to her kitchen and pulled a large bag out from underneath the sink and undid the ziplock, pouring the chucks of dragon food into a predesignated dish that sat besides a water bowl. Meat, veggies and gems. Hekapoo was pretty sure that Nacho ate better than she did.

She reached up into the cabinet above and pulled out a tin. She peeled open the plastic top. A bit of powder clouded up when she did. Turning on the sink she let the water run before she began to fill a plastic cup and a small metal pan. She dumped about a spoon full of powder into the cup, put a rubber cover over the cup, and dropped it into the pan.

She then poured the entirety of it into the sink, because she just started to make a bottle when there was no baby to give the bottle to.

Hekapoo wasted a bunch of time preparing that for Minnie when she could've been using that time make her own lunch.

She needed to make something.

Beer?

Beer.

She pulled a bottle out of the fridge and with a quick swipe, chopped the neck off instead of bending off the bottle cap. Was a trick that her baby's daddy once showed her. Except instead of relying on karate and a mix of other martial arts like he did, she just used the speed and strength gifted to her from being a cosmic entity.

The cut was smooth, than again she doubt it could cut her even if it wasn't. She took a nice long gulp before crashing onto her couch, the nice one that facef the forge.

This was the life.

Hekapoo took another sip. She tapped her fingers against her lap. There was a small clicking of her tongue as she cherish the flavor of the booze.

Yup, the life.

She took another sip.

The door than creaked open, thank god. "Hey Hekapoo."

The greeting sounded more like a moan. It more fit a spirit than it did the bush girl that limped into her home. "Sorry I'm late."

Hekapoo twisted herself around. Laying her knees onto her sofa she greet her daughter's babysitter with a teethy smile and greeted her with more euphemism than anyone could think was possible from her. "Kelly. Glad you here. I don't actually have work today."

Kelly just blinked, letting out a small questionable "Oh."

"Ya no commission meeting today. They're probably talking about me behind my back cause they found out I had a kid without letting anyone know." Hekapoo scuffed. It wasn't like she needed permission to go through the miracle of birth. "Besides the kid isn't even here. She's over at her father's."

"Marco?"

Hekapoo cocked an eyebrow, "Ya, how did you know?" Than she thought about it. She pinched the bridge of her nose, "That's right you were there when I was chewing him out in front of everyone."

Kelly nodded before she began to turn around, "Well I'll be back next week. I guess."

"Woah wait." Hekapoo stood up, muttering a hail of nos as she chase after the teen girl. She place her hands gently on her, "You just got here. Why not hang out for a bit? Tell me what's going on."

The lady of the forge lead Kelly over the coach, placing both their butts firmly down. Kelly glanced back at the door that now seemed miles away, "Well okay."

She did a mix of inhaling and sobbing as she began, "Me and Tad broke up."

"Uh huh. uh huh." Hekapoo nodded vigorously, as she slowly picked her beer back up. She took another swig. "Continue."

"Well, we've broke up before but I think that he might be gone for good this time and I'm not sure what to do."

"Hold on." Hekapoo eyed her now empty drink, "Do you want anything to drink cause I need a refill."

She began to strut back into her kitchen, "I got beer."

Kelly visibility whined, "No. Thanks, but I'm underage."

"Please. I've witness enough generations of princesses growing up to know you kids don't let whatever laws your dimension has stop you." Hekapoo pulled the fridge open once more. "Besides we are just two girls on their own, away from guys. I just sent my daughter to her father's for the first time and you got whatever that thing with Tad that you just mentioned was." She grabbed a bottle. Placing her own drink on the counter. She opened her guest's suggested beverage the only way she did without a bottle opener.

"I'm not going to force you to drink anything, but let just say I left an open bottle lying around and whatever happens happens." It was only a second that Hekapoo was in the kitchen, but came in, a beer in each hand, her guest was clicking away at some device. "What's that?"

"Oh, I just got a text. You know, from Star." The bush twisted the device over to the demoness, revealing her phone's scene had some message that was too far away for her to read. "I got to go. It's really important."

"Oh, you have to go already?" It was half question, half resignation. "Fine, I'll give you a ride."

Hekapoo's spine shagged, but she still made a portal like only one of her blades could. She stepped to the side of it before ushering the teen, "Come on, out."

"Thanks Hekapoo." Despite the drama the girl was going through to went through the effort of giving the woman a smile.

"Ya ya." Hekapoo placed her hand on Kelly's back encouraging her to move through the portal.

"What is it now?" There was a sudden but familiar whine and Hekapoo knew that she had wrapped space to just the right space. Not that there was any doubt to begin with.

Kelly readjusted her glasses. "Hey Marco."

"Oh, ah Kelly, right?" Marco blinked and before he could say anymore there was a obnoxious interruption.

"Are you Marco's baby mama?" From behind Kelly, Hekapoo's squinted her eyes. There was some fat man thing near her baby's father. It was seemingly human.

"What, no Ferg. Kelly's just Star's friend. She's not Minnie's mom." Marco sounded frustrated for obvious reasons. He was close to covering his face when noticed the red haired chauffeur. "She is. Guys, this is Hekapoo. Hekapoo. Guys."

Besides for the roundish friend of the boy, there was also a stick of a kid. He had big round glasses and goofy look on his mug.

"Sup." Hekapoo wasn't really interested but she was going to say something, at least for Marco's sake.

"What are you doing here?"

A good question, she wished she had a better answer than, "Just giving Kelly a lift."

"Thanks Hekapoo." Kelly waved her goodbye, quickly ducking out of the conversation and off to wherever the mewman princess was.

The skinny kid, the one with the specs open his maw and out came out was a coughing sound mixed with nervous laughter. His friend looked calm for the most part and his face didn't look blue so Hekapoo assumed that he was trying to communicate in some way.

"What did he say?" She asked.

"He wanted to know how many kids you and Bad Boy Diaz are gonna have."

"You gave him the nickname Bad Boy Diaz?" Hekapoo paused, "That's adorable."

"No, it's cool and edgy." Bad Boy Diaz insisted. He suddenly found his toes very interesting, "And I worked really hard on it."

"And no. Muscles here will have to find a new girl if he wants more kids. I might end up strangling him if he made me go through childbirth again." Hekapoo was an immortal entity, but still, she shuddered. "You don't know how bad it was. There was tearing." The boys cringed in sympathy, she optimistically hoped. They could just be typical teenage boy who flinched at any mention of lady problems. "Anyway. You know that since Kelly's here you can ask her for help. In case you can't handle it."

Bad Boy Diaz rolled his eyes. "Funny. H-poo, you don't have to worry about Minnie. I got a handle on it." He gave her a smile.

"I'm not worried." She crosses her arms. It wasn't very convincing.

"She's taking a nap right now, but you see her again Sunday night."

"Okay cool. Well I'll be off than." She began to sink back into her own dimension. "Later flesh bags."

"Our names are-" The chubby friend began.

"Sorry, can't hear you. Portal inference." And with one motion ducked completely back in, severing the link between the two dimensions. "Well so much for having a drinking partner."

Hekapoo looked around the nearly empty home. She snapped, "You know what. I'm master of dimensional scissors. There has to be a party out there somewhere."

* * *

"The many great sights of Atlantis." Jacob's voice bang through their fleshy bodies and caused the girl's heart to beat prematurely. He stood T posed as he presented the location, "Atlantis' great hall of art. Home of such works as Amphibinecros and The Fall."

There was a red carpet just in front of them. A thin one. It was tight, between the pillars that held the structure up and the velvet boundaries that kept visitors separated from the works. It was probably more impressive for the natives as the majority of the building was filled with water. It had amenities made for them. He had taken Jackie and Janna through the tourist route but even with the smaller halls they all had more than enough room to move about.

"The ancient colosseum." Jacob roared once more. The colosseum was a strange melding of a roman arena, a football field and a waterpark. They stood near the top made for tourist but the the bottom rows were filled with pools connected to underwater tunnels. It could actually be a cool place to be when an actual event was going on.

"The near infinite achieves of Triton." Jacob gripped onto the railings. The library resembled a warehouse. At least from where he and the girls stood. Bookshelves poked from the water's surface but started down. Way down beneath the water. When Jackie bent down and peered into the water she could see lights of some sort. Maybe magical lamps that allowed her to see the flourishing around them.

Jackie didn't actually mind this one too much. She was tempted to peel a book off a shelf. The tip of her longest finger was just about ready to tilt a tome when Janna cut in with "Yo, Prince Charming, I'm a girl who's a fan of graveyards but these places have just been dead. Where are all the people?"

"Do you really think I'm charming?" Jacob padded his cheeks.

"Not really." Janna lesbianed.

The large guy coughed. "Yes well. These are the not the most popular hangouts but they are dear to me. Unfortunately the majority of our guest seem to prefer to spend their time-" Jacob sighed. "-at the casino."

It really did look like a hot spot of such a large kingdom. The casino was one of the few arenas not built for a aquatic majority, but there were still tubes built in. The populous used these tubes to jet in. Catching the glimpse of one merfolk, they saw him jump out high allowing his tail to split apart. He was now standing on two legs, though they were still scaly and the toes were webbed. He joined the masses but sitting at the nearest table. It was poker or some out of world equivalent.

Each table was swarmed by both quest and servers, each holding a tray, balancing a bottle on top. Janna swiped one, "Wonder how much this is worth." She muttered to her before eyeing Jacob, "You're paying for this, right?"

"I guess" Jackie's lost sibling submitted instantly and without a further thought Janna slipped the alcohol into her sack.

"I'm sorry" Jacob began. Jackie didn't know what he was talking about. Janna was the one milking free booze from him. Than again that was just Janna being Janna. "I know you're in a rush. I was just a bit hesitant to bring you here."

It was a bit hard for her to not agree with sentiment. Jackie wasn't on a strict schedule but she did want to get whatever miracle medicine they had hidden away and get back home. He was technically doing for a favor, potentially saving her dad's life, so she had some patience to spare him. She joked, "Why afraid I get swept in the by debauchery?"

"It has happened to some." Jacob muttered, not hiding an obvious displeasure, "but in truth I wanted to put our best foot forward. It's just frustrating that our kingdom's grand history tends to get overshadow by this."

Despite the grimmous he was giving the room, the people enjoyed themselves none the wiser.

"Now before we continue I thought it would be important for me to introduce you to-"

"Hey Jacob, what are you doing here?" A hand swayed through the air like a dog's tail. Behind a slot machine brown hair and the majority of a face rose.

She looked glad to see Jacob. Jacob didn't look as excited.

"A friend of yours?" Janna inquired and their red haired host just muttered to himself his back slouch as he moved over the brunette.

Jackie rosed an eyebrow as imagined a line from Jacob to the girl, "Do I know her?"

"Now before further ado" was all the guy could get out.

He was stopped by an calm "Hold on, I have a couple more tokens." The girl dainty carried a gold coin between her pointer and thumb which she dropped into the slot before cranking the machine.

"This is important."

"Just a couple more." Another coin went it.

"I just wanted to announce the return-"

"Relax sweetie." Another was gone.

"I don't even know why you're doing this."

"Just having a little fun." Another was lost to the void.

"We own the casino. You can't even make any money doing this."

The last coin slid right in and there when all three wheels jerked to a stop nothing happened. The girl giggled excitedly as if she had won. "Aw, you hate to see that happen. Okay all done Jacob, now what did you want me to see?"

Jacob tried to physically wipe the look of exasperation on his face. "Jacqueline, mom."

Jackie didn't have the time to react before she found herself bum rushed by the girl, "Oh my baby." The stranger cooed as she began to stick to the blonde like a cephalopod.

Jackie played along with the embrace for a second but even as she tried to loosen herself the hug continued. "Oh, hi you." She looked towards the other two for assistance.

"Mom? She looks our age." Janna eyes the strange woman.

Jacob's 'mom' twisted around Jackie. She stood behind her cheek to cheek as she got the good look at her son's guest, "Aging is for foreigners and the poor, darling."

"Jacqueline. I'm not sure if you remember but this is our mother." A clearly exasperated Jacob explained.

"Oh how could anyone forget this face?" The matron swung around to face Jackie, giving her a bright smile.

All Jackie saw was a scowl, "I know you." she spoke slowly that information seem to slowly blossom in her mind.

Her 'mother' said with unrelenting pride. "I knew you would remember me sweetie."

Jacob breathed it. "Now, I was in the middle of giving Jacqueline and her friend a tour of the kingdom. I thought around this time that you might want to join us." Any frustration that he felt before seem to dissipate or he had plenty of practice internalizing it.

The woman perked. "Oh how wonderful. Of course mommy would love to join the two of you." She started to play with Jackie's hair. "Oh Jacqueline, isn't this great. We're get to catch up after all this time."

"Oh great." The blonde barely seem to have the energy to say it and it came out raspy like she had a throat infection. As a result the muttered, "Please stop touching me," sounded much louder.

However if the brown haired woman hear it she didn't show it. Her smile never faulted as she skipped off, ignoring her son's instructions as he stalked after her.

A loud chewing continued as Janna tore the neck of a chocolate bottle. For a moment that was the only sound between the duo as the newly discovered relatives went ahead of them. "So she seems perky." Janna peeled off the wrapping on the second half of the piece of candy. "How wonderful." Her tone dripped with sarcasm.

Jackie eyed the candy liquor. "Can I have some of those?"

* * *

Hekapoo's favorite bar was on a wide forgotten plain right in the center of nowhere. It was on lawless land, making it a nice tough guy location. The image was propagated by the fact that just behind the bar there was a board full of wanted posters among other sheets with bits of information. It was also a shack on the edges of shambles and she had only just than realized it.

She was able to still get a good drink but when she scanned the room she could only noticed just how dreary the joint was, especially before it was even happy hour. There were barely three guys in the entire bar.

The bartender her a mug. It was some purple concoction that she downed in a second flat, before she ordered another.

She made a fist and lifted it until it hovered just above the bar, squeezed her fingers together tight and let go. A small rectangle device dropped from her palm. It was a yellow with some crystals poking out from one end and when she focus a little bit of magic into it a bit shot up that projected an image just above it like a hologram.

With it, she could see a picture she has taken of Minerva. She acted as if she didn't spend a majority of her life with the munchkin for the last few months and she hated herself for it.

"Cute kid." Her ears perked. She was surprised that anyone were even up for conversation. She doubt the voice belonged to the one guy passed out with his legs scrawled along the entrance nor to the shaky cow man with anisocoria who pupils darted at every single creak that echoed through the hub.

It didn't matter. She just didn't have it in her to really care who was sitting next to her.

"So she's your-" he trailed, leaving Hekapoo to fill in the blank.

"Daughter." Hekapoo answered, resting her cheek on palm.

"Woah." he said, "Sorry, but you look a bit young."

"Ya, I get that a lot." Not really. It's not like she had that much time to socialize, but he didn't need to know that. "Did you want anything?"

"No." He coughed, "Nothing really."

Rolling her head, she peeked at the man and sighed. He wasn't bad looking, "Order a drink."

He did. While another purple thing came for Hekapoo a green serum came to rest in front of the stranger. The lady of dimensions took a drink, slowly this time deciding to savored the mixture. Her new found drinking took his quickly, possibly to catch up to the two drinks she had beforehand.

"So." He chugged it in one gulp before asking, "How old is she?"

"Not even a year."

"Must be exciting." He smiled, somehow it was possible with that thing on his face. Anatomy was weird.

"Ya, what a wonderful time to be alive." Hekapoo muttered, sounding anything but enthusiastic. She took another sip. "She's with her father for the first time. For the next few days. Well the next few days for that dimension."

"Oh, so you and the father aren't-"

"Together? No. We were never together." That brought on a headache. She had to massage her temples. "Or maybe we were. Long story."

"Wicked." Try not to sound too delighted guy, "I mean it must be rough. Mama wasn't said that letting me out of the nest was the hardest thing she did."

"Ya well, she's probably right." She has to concede to that. "I don't get it. I only just got her. I didn't even like her for the first couple of months. She just came out of me and I took care of her because that's what you're supposed to do, but now I don't have to deal with her and-" She was ranting. Hekapoo knew what she had to do. She tapped her drink and pushed it away from herself. "You know. I'm done with that."

Her impromptu drinking buddy took a long deep exhale. He crossed his arms and spoke. "I can't talk from experience. I love kids. I volunteer with them. It's great. Makes me feel like I'm building them up, but I haven't got one of my own. What I do know is saying goodbye is hard and what helps me afterwards is stepping back and doing something for me."

"What do you think I'm doing?" She motion towards the all but derelict pub

"Nah." He shook his hand, his wing. "Here is where you forget stuff, at least if you're here alone. You need to consider it more of a milestone. Something worth treating yourself a bit. Go learn a skill you always wanted to, take a class, go somewhere exotic."

"Go somewhere exotic, huh?" Hekapoo looked to the distance, at something only visible to her.

"In fact I know a couple places you might like."

Hekapoo looked at the man her lap and than back at the man. "Hey listen you're nice and look like you could bench press me which normally would be a plus" she eyed his pecs. Now that she noticed them, she hated that she couldn't enjoy them. "but I'm still not over whatever is going on with my ex."

She didn't know if that was the right term for Marco. The entire affair was long and passionate, but very informal. There weren't really labels.

"Oh you thought I meant go with me." She could imagine that his eyes widened behind his sunglasses. After a beat he relaxed. "Don't worry about it. You just seem stressed. That's all. I'm being serious, there a bunch of places on the job board. Been to a few. You should try them out." He motioned towards the wall of wanted posters. Now that she was looking carefully she could see some colorful posters underneath the mess.

"Oh thanks. Just so you know, I don't say that to a ton of mortals." The could probably count the number she've shown gratitude on her two hands.

"I'm not like most mortals. I aim for the extreme." Now she knew the man was trying to sound cool. He stood. "Anyway I gotta jet. See ya on the flip side."

Finger guns.

"Yo, before you go my name's Heckapoo." She introduced herself.

"Talon." He did the same as he backed out of the pub. "Talon Raventalon."

"Ha, lame." She snorted. Hekapoo stood and faced the bar. Pushing against the counter she reached over until her nose was just at the wall. Carefully she peeled back the mugshots of known criminals. It really was an advert for a vacation spot.

It didn't sound like a bad idea.

For once she needed to get away from the stress.

* * *

 **A/N: Hey Talon Raventalon, AKA guy who probably isn't showing up again. Ya my originally plan was basically for Hekapoo to randomly announce where she was going on vacation for but I found that lazy and dull. Like the originally idea was that her destination was the inter dimensional equivalent of Vegas. Needed someone to basically win her over to the idea of even going somewhere and who was better for the job than her canon replacement love interest?**

 **Hekapoo briefly met Marco's friends. Why they're there will be seen next chapter which takes place simultaneously with this one.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Finally got this out. Got stuck with the dialogue for a bit. I had a basic idea of how I wanted this chapter to go. What was hard was getting the characters there without making it seem forced. Think I did okay.**

 **Want to thank anyone who laid down reviews between the last time I posted and this time.**

 **Hivedragon: I can understand it. Part of the reason I jump around a bit is because I have a little bit of trouble with scene transition. Easier to go to a different person when switching scenes then the same person in a new location.**

* * *

Two arms were brought up slowly and simultaneously like the chains of a drawbridge. They screamed for the bundle to land gently into them. "Star can I hold her?"

"Nope." It's abductor didn't think about her words before she swung her body to one side. She cooed at the slight even if her prisoner could do nothing but snooze and drool in response.

Marco frown wobbled, "Star."

"But baby." Star countered before reflecting the look thrown at her. She didn't need to say more. As far as she could imagine that was the only argument she needed.

So distracted in the teary eye sulk-off with her best friend that she had no time to defend her chosen charge. "Yoink." It was quickly, but gently that the matron of the house was able to relive the princess of the baby.

"Gasp" Star onomatopoeied, "Mrs Diaz, how could you betray me?"

As the blonde stood slumped and slacked jawed, Marco pumped his arm and cheered "Way to go mom."

"Marco." Mrs Diaz scolded before gently rocking the child up and down. She had to move the baby away as if the soundwaves were physical things she had to dodge. "If you haven't noticed my grandbaby is napping. We'll all get some time with her, but right now she has a crib ready for her upstairs."

"Ya, you're right." Even if he wanted to argue, he couldn't against this mother. "You're right, just be careful mom."

"Marco I did raise you." Angie rolled her eyes, but still couldn't help letting a tiny smile slip out. "I know how to take care of a baby.

The two teen could only really watch as the grandmother rose up the steps, slowly bringing her grandchild to her new crib. That is until Star bumped her shoulder with Marco's.

"Marco." She drew his attention. "There's a baby in the house."

"Ya, there is." He didn't know that he could feel this much excitement, and fear, but the excitement was winning out for now. It was probably thanks to excitement that radiated from the Butterfly. "I almost think you're happier than I am. You've been smiling for like seven hours straight now."

"I can't feel my cheeks." Star concurred.

"Hey Star, I'm gonna get all this stuff shorted out." Marco reached down and allowed the strap of Hekapoo's 'baby kit' to catch on his arm.

He took one step up, before Star was practically grabbing at his sleeves. "Let me help you."

Marco had to admit that Star looked excited, desperate even to help him with his task, but experience advised against it. "No offense Star, but I think you might get bored."

"I won't." She whined and started to follow.

"It wasn't exactly up your alley when we were babysitting for buff frog." Marco reasoned.

"True, but-"

He gave her no chance to continue, "Relax, I got this" and when they reached the top the two began to separate.

"Okay, okay. Cool." Star smiled at Marco's back as he walked away and she tried to remember to so the same. She pawed the wall until she found that she traveled just far enough to be in front of her room. She laughed before she continued; shouting out of necessity "You handle your thing. I'll just do mine."

She flipped through the door. Pulling on the handle she allowed the click of the door closing to fill her room before she slid down on her back until she was sitting neatly on her behind.

She cursed.

"Poop."

* * *

"Do we have to go so soon? Your father isn't going anywhere. Jacqueline needs to see the sights." Jacob's mother was tugging on his sleeve. If anyone saw the two they would think that they were father and daughter instead of mother and son. It wasn't help that she looked so young and he was gigantic in comparison.

Jacob paused for a moment.

"We shouldn't leave dad waiting. Besides, I'm doing this for Jacqueline. I promised her that this would be quick." Then he continued walking. They had left the casino immediately, mostly at Jacob's urging. Jackie appreciated it. What Jacob said was true, this was supposed to be quick.

They went down the tourist district, which honestly just reminded Jackie of a large Earth city, as long as you didn't look down or up. The stone roads periodically gave way to views of the ocean pass panes of glass. Above there was a dome that held the air in for the temporary population. Even with the ocean within her vision Jackie struggled to remember that she was under the sea.

"Sweetie, there's no need to rush." The brunette argued. They had all been walking two by two with Jackie and Janna in the back. The woman suddenly left her son and scurries back over to Jackie, swinging back behind her. "Isn't that right? You want to see the sights, take a breather, have a walk as the land lovers do. I mean that might help to take a little off of here. Poke."

Jackie felt a finger jab her thigh. "Excuse me?"

"I mean she hasn't been home since her little trip. She needs to get to know her home." The woman pleaded with her son. "I know how much you care about culture."

Jacob waved it off. "Already covered mom, I showed her the museum and the library."

"I love my little bookworm, but no." She seem to glide on the floor. One instance she was behind Jackie, the next she was on her tippy toes, pitching Jacob's cheek. "Girls need a bit of excitement. Isn't that right?" She twirled back over to Jackie and started to curl a strand of Jackie's hair around one finger.

Jackie grumbled, "You're still touching me."

"What was that?"

"I don't mind the library."

"Oh don't be like that." Jackie's shoulders were playfully shakened. "You really shouldn't just go with the flow of things. Then again you were the same as a babe if I remember correctly." The woman brought a finger to her cheek. "Honestly I thought it was because you were a little slow."

"Slow as in?" Jackie cautiously prompted. Her voice unusually low.

The woman flinched.

"Oh, don't worry. I don't believe that now. I can see that you're just brilliant dear. At least that how you seem so far." Jackie didn't think it was possible but the woman seemed to get further into her personal space. She spoke a mile a minute. "We do have a lot of checking up to do. How have you been dear? How was Earth? Actually more important, how were the Earth boys? Or is it girls? Boys, girls, boy-girls? Somewhere on that scale, somewhere off the scale?"

"So how much more walking?" Janna suddenly asked drawing eyes to her.

"Oh, yes Jacqueline's friend." It was as if they had forgotten she had been there. "One of her hodge podge as the youths say."

"Nobody says that."

"It's close enough that Jacob insists that we walk." There was a slump in her spine as if it was some herculean task.

"It's just a couple blocks away mom." Jacob said in a monotone.

"And a couple blocks that way is a little boutique with little dresses, but you won't let me go there." His mother darted her arm in one direction as if she could just stretch and touch said storefront. When Jacob continued on, she made a large show of crossing her arms. "Never let me do anything." As the group threatened to leave her behind, she jogged back to the Jackie's side. "Oh hey wait, we were talking about Jacqueline. How are the boys, Jacqueline?"

"Dang nabbit." Janna hissed her most G rated swear.

It didn't fall dead on the woman's ears. Her eyes grew wide. She mouthed a quick "Ouch", before continuing, "Oh, wait did I botch the subject? Boys troubles? Let me tell you I've been there."

"Then I'm sure it'll get better Jacqueline." Jacob twisted his head back, "I mean mom found the one, right mom?"

Instead of responding his mother found her way away from Jackie over to her friend. "Oh, Hanna."

"Janna."

"Right." She smiled and snapped. "Why don't you tell me about Earth and we can leave Jacqueline to be a grumpy guppy."

* * *

As soon as she said that Jackie's face scrunched up like she had bit in a lemon. While honestly wanting to spending as little time as possible with Jackie's mother as possible, Jacob didn't seem like he was planning on intervening. Janna found herself in a rare position of playing damage control.

She nodded, making a effort to walk just a bit faster as to have Jacob work as a barrier between between Jackie and the woman.

"Rafael did you remember to make that phone call?" Angie quickly readjusted the blanket the baby was swaddled in. She just had to make sure it would last until the end of the baby's nap.

"Si, I took care of it." Rafael smiled, then frowned, before returning to his smile. He nodded. "I took care of it."

"Good. Good, we're be able to focus on the new baby." She placed the baby down. Taking some a little time to caress the girl, something akin to a little boop on the cheek. The baby move it's mouth like it wanted to speak, but remained asleep. "Everything happened in such short notice that I'm surprise that we got it all."

"I like to think I did my part." Rafael stood, both hands on his hips. He was an one man army in the battle to baby proof the home.

Angie glided over to him "Of course. You always good with your hands." She blanketed herself over her husband. Her head rested against his chest. For some reason she began to eye the floor. "We barely had to go out for anything."

"Angie." Rafael embraced his wife "Everything is going to be okay."

"Yes. Yes, it will be, because Marco is a good boy. Our granddaughter will be fine. I understand that." The mother sighed "I understand that. Are you okay?"

Angie looked up to him and the father smiled back, "I'm fine my love."

"Liar." Angie scoffed but she gave him a little squeeze. "You worked all night on that crib."

"I couldn't sleep anyway."

* * *

They passed what Jackie could pass describe as a fountain. It was shaped like one at least, through in this case there were large pits which residents could jump in and out from. It was in the center of a large field covered by something that was kind of like grass. It looked like coral when she peered down at it, but none of it broke as she stepped through it.

There were floods of people picnicking, playing and planking. They were making the most of the day that Jackie honestly felt more annoyed that she had her arms crossed while traveling through such a cheery sight.

Jacob for one took the view in eagerly, taking a deep breath that expanded his chest greatly. Slowing down, he retreated away from his mother and Janna and walked beside Jackie. "From here it's just a walk in the park."

He seem to have a little bit of mirth on his lips. "Get it? You see it's funny cause we're at Siren Square which is quite literally a park." He pointed to the ground.

"Thought it'll get a chuckle out of you." Jacob explained, his smile growing awkward. "Got one out of me."

Jackie didn't say anything.

"Jacqueline?" He slowed down. "Is everything all right?"

"Huh, sorry." Jackie said in a way where you could instantly tell that she wasn't sorry, one bit. "Too busy being a grumpy guppy to respond."

Jackie had expected to act a bit awkward, maybe a little rejected even. What she didn't see coming was him laughing. "Is that it?"

"Yes that's it." Jackie shot back and this time she did get that awkward look on top of the laughter dying down.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Jacqueline, I'm not trying to make fun of you. It's just, well. You know that's mom."

Jackie eyes narrowed. "She insulted me three times in the last three minutes."

Jacob squinted and waited before smacking his forehead "I just forgot that the two of you haven't gotten to know each other yet. It isn't you or anything."

"Then what is it?"

"It's just mom." Jacob sighed dramatically. "Like I know that she can be a little bit of a- would 'witch' be a too harsh of a term?" Jacob wondered out loud which actually managed to put a small smile on Jackie's face. She fought to put it under control, "but she's not trying to be mean. She's trying to be helpful."

"I wish that she would be a little bit less helpful then." Jackie sighed.

"Don't I know it." The red head agreed, "I had a whole childhood with her. She'll calm down. It's just that it's been more of a decade. You're all shiny and new. She'll put her sights back to me soon enough."

"Can't wait."

"Good." Jacob allowed his sister to walk past him. He spared a minute to think about the implication and whined, "Hey."

* * *

Star was still anchored at the base of her door. She had been there for way too long and she knew it.

"I should call someone." She pushed against her door with her shoulders, allowing her legs to do most of the work forcing her up. "Maybe Ponyhead."

She shuffled over to her mirror. "Ya I'll see what Ponyhead is up l to."

She still had the mind to smooth out her dress before she commanded her mirror to make the call. It competed and she was greeted by "Star, it's horrible. The bounce lodge is-"

She didn't wait to disconnect the call. "No. Maybe not Ponyhead right now."

Star loved the friend, but she just didn't need the noise right now.

The princess tried another "Janna. Janna knows what going on."

She tried them again. "Oh, Janna Banana, pick up."

And again, "Janna please, answer your phone."

Even as stubborn as Butterfly was, she had to give up in the face of no immediate consultation.

Picking into her bag to switch over to her compact, she ran to her bed. Jumping, there was a little spin as she dropped her back against the soft mattress. She rose the compact up, staring intently at the mirror. "There gotta be someone I can talk to."

As she scroll through the names she frown. "For a princess, Star, you don't have a lot of friends."

She continue, "Who you can call?"

* * *

Pass the park was the edge of the tourist district and the space got smaller and smaller until what they were walking through could be better classified as a hall whether then a dome. The ocean was now around them. It was in escapable.

"Jackie. Jackie." She heard the words, but it didn't really hit her until she felt the like tugging of her shoulder. The hand that rocked her belonged to Janna who looked as worried as she would allow herself while still maintaining her cool persona. Casually freaking out would be a good way to describe it.

Jackie's mouth caught up with her brain, "Oh me?" She played up exactly how surprised she was. The brief act died as she no longer handle a bitter taste that hung off her tongue. She allow it out with a soft mutter. "I'm almost starting to forget my name."

It was low enough that the new family wouldn't had heard it, but Janna did. It caused her to snort, but not much else. "Real annoying, right?" She gave a knowing smile.

"You have no idea." The blonde sounded annoyed, but also a bit happy to admit that she was annoyed.

Janna looked ahead of them. Her eyes pierced the back of the skulls that belonged to the mother son duo. They had split back up to their original pairs. "Should I set them straight?"

Her friend tilted her head while brining a finger of contemplation to her cheek. "Tempting." She smiled for a second. "Don't think it would work too much for 'mom' though, and for Jacob-"

Jackie was filled from her toenail to the roots of her hair with a deep melancholy. "-I don't know. Let him have this."

"Kind of rough. They basically dragged you here. Almost like a hostage situation. Come with us if you want your father to live." The girl with the beanie lowered her voice to mock threatening. She didn't miss her friend slowly starting to cast her eyes away nor did she miss the deep frown that could split her face in two. Janna hesitated, but spoke "Hey Jackie. Your dad is a tough guy."

Jackie closed her eyes and when she opened them back up they met Janna's gaze. Ordonia could feel a hint of awkwardness creep into her, but she laughed it off "Just felt like saying that is all."

"Ya. He's always been. Even when he doesn't show it." She couldn't fight a small smile as she remembered a few sillier times with her dad. She settled when her eyes caught the back of Jacob's head once more. "I don't think I can really blame them, Janna. When I think about it, if it was my dad. I'll probably do the same thing, if I thought it would help him. Both of us are just trying to do the right thing."

Janna sighed, but didn't offer any further complaints. "Internalizing it as always I see."

"Stop." Jackie rolled her eyes and with her hand left playfully pushed against Janna's arm.

"Just make sure that when you go beserk you aim it over to mother dearest over there." Janna laughed.

Jackie raised an eyebrow. "She's getting on your nerves too?"

"Just got that vibe around her." Janna cringed and she glared at the matron. "Don't think I've seen her not smile. It's like she's been on a photoshoot this whole time. The passive aggressiveness isn't helping." The girl thought about her next words carefully. "And like. It look like you were freaking out a little when you first saw her. What was up with that?"

Jackie blinked. There was a flash of something through her mind, but before she could even process that it was there, it was gone. It nearly caused her to miss a step. "I don't remember."

"Well, whatever it is. I got your back. You get through this even if I got to hold your hand the entire way." Then she did. Janna's fingers wrapped around Jackies. Her thumb slide gently over the back of the blonde's hands.

"Thanks Jan." However bright she smiled, Jackie wasn't sure that it justly express how appreciative she felt.

"Hey girls, we're here." They were yanked out of the moment. They were at the end of the hall. There the family stood over a hole in the glass floor. Water gently hit the gold rim of the circle.

"Oh cool, a literal hole in the ground." Jackie didn't mean to sound sarcastic, that was just the way it came out sounding.

She was thankful that Jacob didn't find offense it it. He chuckled and motioned with his hand deeper into the water pit. "Check again."

She kept an eye on Jacob, but she started to crouch down to get a eyeful at whatever it was that he wanted her to see. She was acting like he was going to push her in at any moment. She eventually saw it through. A huge outline in the distance. "Is that?"

"The castle." Her birth mother answered. The women patted Jacob to draw his attention. "We're just above the royal palace, aren't we?"

"That's right, home sweet home." He beamed with obvious pride. "Time to get a closer view."

While Jacob was focused on the castle, Jackie could only stand back up and look behind her. "But Janna."

"Ya, sorry about that." He looked sheepish, like he didn't even see why it was an issue until that exact moment, "The castle wasn't made like the rest of the kingdom. I'm afraid she'll have to wait."

Jackie understood that. That didn't mean she was without reservations.

She didn't get the chance before Jacob's mom cannon balled into the opening. There was a splash that hit her ankles but the woman resurfaced. "Come on, hurry. The sooner we get this over with the sooner we can have some real fun, like go the mall or maybe swim up, check out some sailors?"

"Ma." Jacob whined, obviously wanting to go for a more gentle touch.

"For Jacqueline." She explained, before winking, "I can look though."

"Jackie." Janna said low, "Maybe you don't have to-."

"I see you after?" Jackie asked as if there was anywhere for Janna to go. She lifted one foot as she started to liberate her feet. "Hold my shoes."

"I already informed the guards of Jacqeline's arrival." Jacob cut in, continuing to play his part as a gracious host, "Just mention her name and you should have your run of the place."

Janna stared at him for a moment, but Jackie demanded her glance. The two girls exchanged items. Janna got her friend's socks, shoes, and anything electronic including Jackie's cell phone, trading to her a handful of chocolate bottles among other small items Jackie might need.

Jackie turned around just to catch the top of Jacob's head plunge into the water. With little fanfare she let her scales burst through her skin. She stepped with none of the finesse that Jacob and his mother had entered into the water. Just a straight dunk from her soles up.

It wasn't especially dramatic in anyway. After the dunk she was just there slowly treading water. She had expected more after not having really sumerge herself in so long and immediately felt silly foe it. This was supposed to be natural for her, a walk in the park.

Jacob was right there and he just stared at her. Unlike her who preferred to keep her lower half to scaly legs and web toes in order to keep her shorts on, he had his full tail fin out under him.

Jackie opened her mouth.

"So where to?" That should've been easy to say, but Jackie flapped open her mouth and water just flood though her lips. Actually cause her to choke a little before remembering that she didn't do drowning. The feeling of irritation went away as she allowed the water to go through her.

"Easy there." Jacob said, but Jackie couldn't really figure out how exactly he had said it. He just floated there with a smile on his face.

"Okay, nice and steady." She heard his voice as he helped to calm her. "You ready?"

It then hit her and with only the slightest of efforts Jackie thoughts rang out. "Ya, ready."

* * *

He fiddled with the doorknob experimentally before actually opening cracked open, just wide enough for Marco to slide right in with a step to the side. "Hey mom, dad."

The parents shared a look, but Angie put on a smile. "Yes dear?"

"Just shuffled through some of this. Wasn't hard." The door squeaked open further as Marco revealed the heavy bag draped on Marco's arm. "Hekapoo actually left instructions. She seems to know what she's doing."

Angie didn't seem too surprise. "She had a while to figure it out. No one is born a mom. It just takes some practice."

"Ya. Got it." Marco figured that his mom might be reassuring him in a way. His eyes wandered over to the far corner of the room, pass his parents' king sized bed. "You sure you want to keep Minnie's crib here?"

"Of course, you're gonna need to get some sleep at night." His mother said half jokingly.

His father spoke in a bit more serious tone. Only a bit, he still had a smile on his face. "Marco, your mother and I are flexible. We can handle it."

"She won't be the first baby to make us lose some sleep." Angie finialized.

"I know." Marco said like he rehearsed the line many times before. Taking a quick breath he wandered over to the baby prison, sneaking a peek of its occupant. "Well I think I got it from here."

Hands landed gently on his shoulder. "We got it from here." His mom gave a shy smile.

It was a smile that Marco wanted to return, but then he thought "Aren't you and dad suppose to have a playdate with the morrisons?"

"Postponed." Was the simple answer.

"You didn't have to do that."

"'Didn't have to,' doesn't mean 'shouldn't have.'"

Marco had to think about his rebuttal. "It's just that Minerva is my responsibility."

Angie laughed, "You don't have to worry about that, you'll have plenty of time to take care of her. It'll just be easier with me and your father watching for you for now.", before muttering "Without anyone else sticking their noses in."

Marco blinked. "Hey mom, are you-", was all he could say before a heavy chime pierced the atmosphere. The boy shook his head. "Alright. I'll get that and then I'll be right back."

"We'll let you know when she wakes up." Angie insisted. "Relax. Once she's up you're going to be begging her to go back down for a nap."

* * *

The halls of the palace were quiet, giving the castle a presence of both regal and peace. One that Jackie wouldn't to experience because the queen burst straight though the front door with a cheerful "woohoo." She spun like a bullet just released from the chamber, turning only when necessary to navigate the halls. She shouted behind her. "Just follow me. We have so much to do and so little time."

Even with her shouting her sentences got softer and softer as she outpaced her children who had decided to swim leisurely behind her. When it was Jackie turn to pass the front gate she paused.

"Are you alright Jacqueline?" Jacob stopped an inch behind her.

"This place is huge."

"I would more say that it's cozy." Jacob tried to downplay but his smile made it clear he knew how impressive the view was.

"What?" Jackie blinked. She clap her hand over her unmoving lips. "Oh I didn't really mean to say that. I'm still trying to remember the difference of thinking and well 'thinking.'"

"It's okay. Happens even to me." Jacob acknowledged. "Now as much as I would like to show you around, we should follow mom before she gets excited."

Jackie raised an eyebrow. "You mean she's not already?" Rather she meant to say that or not, her brother could only smile.

"You know, the best thing about home, is getting away from all the tourist. You know the palace is the center of Atlantis, the center of our history." They started to move forward. This lasted all of two seconds before they once again came to a halt. "Check out this painting for example."

He wave her only to a canvas hung on the wall. Jackie tilted her head and asked, "How do you paint underwater?"

Jacob turned to her and look her right in the eye. Leaning forward he sagely answered "Very carefully." Before bursting out in a giggle fit. "Come on, it's worth the glance."

She couldn't argue against that. "It's actually pretty cool." It was worth a glance. She saw the kingdom or at least a version of it centuries ago. Still large and still impressive, but somehow small. At least compared to a seemingly looming threat depicted over it. It was vague, hidden in shadow, but that also brought out a primal fear of the unknown.

"This has been here since you were last here." Jacob informed. "You always eyed it when nan used to carry you past." The sentence seem to draw out towards the end. Like he regretted even starting and only finished because he felt had no choice but to do so.

His eyes casted down.

Then he felt a small thud on his arm.

Jackie bumped him gently, shoulder to shoulder. "What's the story?"

"An epic battle." He started to gash. "Between some monstority and the brave people of our kingdom. Knights with both blade and magic assaulted until the king himself had to emerge wielding his legendary trident." Jacob spoke like he was pitching a movie. He sold his idea of a perfect epic. "With the trident's magic the ocean itself became his weapon and he was soon able to slew the beast."

He went as far as to mime the jab of such a weapon. He turn and wielded the imagine weapon against his sister, 'stabbing' her though.

"Sounds almost like mythology or a fairy tale."

"Might've made a good bedtime story for you if-" He sighed, but he didn't look quite as down as before. Jackie saw that as a win. "Well I got to tell it to you now."

"You would have to stretch it out a little, add some dialogue. That way you could do voices." Jackie explained, "Kids love silly voices."

"Or I could make it real dramatic" Jacob suggested, "I could end with 'some say that the king wasn't able to really to kill the monster." He tried his best intimidating voice "'That it's really deep beneath the kingdom. That it's waits right under the bed of little princesses ready to devour them'" He held up both hands in claw like gestures and poked the water as if he was going to grab her.

"Oh no." Jackie smiled, it was a good try.

Jacob smiled also. "Would've been nice."

"Ya maybe."

Jacob didn't say anything after that. At least not immediately. "Jacqueline." He brought slide one hand up and hugged his arm to his torso. He stopped looking at her. "Can I tell you something?"

"Yes?" Jackie answered.

"What are you doing?" There was a familiar screeching, followed quickly by juvenile whining, "I've been waiting forever."

"Hardly." Jacob rolled his eyes before leaning over to Jackie, "I believe I told you she'd get all excited."

The blonde could only shake her head as she grinned. "I wasn't betting anything against it."

* * *

"Marco!" Marco didn't really know what to expect, but he was expecting the excited cheers of a very hefty friends of his.

"Ferg?" Marco cocked an eyebrow..

"Tabletop game night. Tabletop game night." He raised and fist in the air and pumped it. The other fist would've joined it but was clenching a solid mass of books, papers and maps that the hefty kid have trouble keeping restrained together as it was.

The other boy opened his mouth and a spoke in a mixture of jiggles and laughs. The shorter of the two looked at him and had the decency to look offended. "Hey, that is not true." Ferguson denied the accusation." I'm not just here to borrow money from Marco for models."

It didn't take him long to rotate his neck towards Marco. He exaggerated a look that signaled him suddenly having a big idea. "Though homeslice. Just found a website where they make custom figurines. I need it for Princess Esmeralda"

Chuckles popped in a fit of fizzy language.

"Hey Alfonzo. We all don't have pixie wives." Ferguson retorted. He must've said something he shouldn't because one look from his pal with glasses and he looked embarrassed. "Ex pixie wives."

A last bit of bubbly words.

"Separated pixie wives? Okay I got it, complicated."

"Guys. Guys" Marco cut through his friends' dialogue. "Now's not really a good time."

"Ah man." Ferguson whined despite the fact that those who show up to someone's home without a phone call deserve no sympathy. "How come?"

Alphonso blew his mouth open and a flurry of swirly words floated through the air. They soon fell, stabbing into Marco with none of the elegance in which they were formed.

The boy noticeably flinched. "No. Al, I don't have Jackie over. Guys. That isn't really happening anymore."

"You guys broke up? Man I gave you at least another month." Ferguson exclaimed. He soon saw a look that if somehow wasn't enough to kill him, would leave just enough for his karate practicing friend to finish off. "I mean I'm sorry man. I know you really liked her.

"No." Marco thought about it for a second. "I don't know if we broke up. Probably though. It's weird."

"Like pixie wife?" Ferguson offered.

"Ya, like pixie wife." It was a bit different, but was a broad enough term to work, but on second thought, "Y'know what. I'm pretty sure I got the worst of it over with and this is basically gonna have to get out anyway." So he told them. That he met a girl. That he was older then he really was. That he had a daughter.

"Woah." Fergerson seem to flap his mouth repeatedly like was sucking on something, all while uttering little "woahs."

"Ya." Marco nodded.

Suddenly the teen's eyes shot right at Marco's. He stepped forward, got really close. "You know what that means, right bro?"

"Ya." He was in the middle of the reality of it all.

Fergerson side eyed the room, before giving Marco the complete attention of his vision. He brought his voice down low to a hush. "You got to see a girl in the buff."

"No. I mean ya, but-" he had to take care of a kid. Everyone was going to hear about this. All the kids at school would about this and he could mess up, this could get so much worse and he was laughing. He can't believe that he was laughing.

"Sorry, man." Ferguson seem to deviate that he hadn't said the correct answer.

Marco on the other hand remembered why Ferguson was his friend, "It's okay." A last second laugh escape gently from his jaw.

Alphonos nudged Ferg, before believing fuzzy taunts that rained down on the shorter of the two.

"Shut up." Ferguson rolled his eyes. He blinked before leaning on Marco once more. "So we can see her right, the baby?"

"You want to?" Said a kid who wasn't sure that child rearing were one of his friends' specialties

"Like ya." Ferguson confirmed. "Super excited. I'm assuming I'm the godfather."

"Right." Marco almost didn't have the heart to tell him that the position had been predetermined by the mother of his child. He barely had strength to tell him that even if there was a vacancy that there was a few preferred choices.

Thankfully before he could be pressed on the topic, a tear appeared between the two of them.

* * *

"Come on, come on. We're leaving Harold waiting." The queen seemed to dance around Jackie, making a full circle for every inch the blonde swan. She was led to a room with large double doors and the women seem to shoot through them.

"Harold?" Cautiously Jackie followed.

"The head butler." The woman answered and with that she gently settled down until her tail fin just kissed the floor. Standing and not swimming next to her was a man with a cephalopod head. He was in the middle of what Jackie could easily describe as a walk in closet. "Master of service and of taste parallel to mine. Well almost."

"Oh cool, you have octopus head guys." Jackie didn't remember such a thing before, it had been years since she was here. There was bound to be holes in her memory. "Octopi head guys?"

"What did you call me?" The butler groaned low.

"Well are a guy with a-" It was in the middle of a sentence that Jackie realized that continuing would be unadvised. "Nevermind I didn't mean anything by it."

"Ya, that what I thought. Just go and pretend you didn't mean anything." The servant poked himself in the chest. "I'm not any dumb eight leg. I am a proud squid."

"She didn't mean anything by it darling." Mother dearest came to the rescue. She did a twirl around the squid, before settling between him and Jackie. "She's just not used to a gentlemen of your caliber. Give her some leeway. I'm trusting you to help make her presentable for the king."

"Well alright, but she check her words before she spew them all over the place." He relaxed his body but one of his eyes seemed to bulge out at Jackie.

"She will won't you dear?" The brown hair women leaned into Jackie, until they were in a hurdle of two. With a hush voice she told her daughter, "If I'm speaking frank, that's not really his head, he just walked in one day wearing a squid over his face and we don't know why." She giggled, "But it is entertaining, is it not?"

"This way m'am." The 'squid' pulled away a curtain that was in the back, revealing a small dressing room with not only more clothes but also a desk with a mirror.

"Better hurry up." The woman was behind Jackie in a instant. She gave the blonde a small push. "It's not like your father is going to wait for you to start dying."

With a quick twist of her waist, Jackie shot her a look as sharp as a dagger.

"Oh my was that too dark?" The woman looked embarrassed. For a moment. "You better scoot."

Jackie wandered to the back room beside the butler who proclaimed "It'll be nice and quick even if we're only working with just six tentacles, which is the amount I have."

She didn't want to comment that he was only holding up one very humanoid hand. "Alright."

* * *

"Kelly." Star anticipated her, calling out for her before she could even confirm that it was her. To be fair the princess did invite her.

"Hey Star. Emergency friends meeting" The bush girl smiled, or tried to. Better to bury her own issues considering the apparent crisis.

"More like emergency friend meeting." Star corrected and deflated. "No one else showed up. Janna isn't answering my calls, Pony is being Pony and for once I have no idea where Starfan is."

Neither of the two girls said anything about the banging in the walls.

"Well Star, I'm here," and Kelly was willing to fill the shoes of three other people, ignoring of course that Pony didn't wear shoes.

The princesses' eyes grew all hazy before she collapsed into her friend's not quite ready arms. She instinctively warped her arms around her. "Kelly."

"Oh. Um" Kelly stuttered. She tried her best despite not being the most touchy feely of people. "There there?"

"I told Marco I love him."

"Oh" Kelly eyes grew wide. Despite the meeting being held, she hadn't really expected the topic to be so dire. "Oh, jank that's not good. Cause he has a baby with Hekapoo."

"And it's terrible because he has a baby with Hekapoo." Star explained and then immediately pushed off of the tan girl. "Wait. How did you know that?"

"Well, I babysit for her sometimes." Kelly answered. Then suddenly feeling her mouth grow dry, she quickly amended. "Pony head was suppose to tell you."

* * *

"So Harold. How it go?" When the butler step back from behind the curtain he all but verbally asked for the mother and son's attention. He stood up straight, but his stomach seem to sink down.

"I summoned all the squid powers I could muster. It's in her hands now." He restraighted his spine "Presenting the lady Jacqueline."

They saw the hem of the dress first. There was a translucent teal layer, but behind that the piece fold over itself many times and could remind someone of the unbloomed petals of a flower bud. It was simpler as it went up. A few ribbons here and there, but not much else. She patted down a few of the petals. Jackie had to get used to wearing loose clothing while underwater. "I don't look silly, right? I haven't rocked scales in quite a while."

The great smile that Jacob wore spoke his opinion for him, but he commented anyway. "Jacqueline, you look fantastic." He stood up as if to give a standing ovation. "Dad is going to be in tears. Isn't he mom?"

"Yes dear." His mother was looking through a compact. She could've been checking her face, but from what Jackie knew from Star, it could've been a magical cell phone like her fellow blonde's was. Either way Jacob nudge her shoulder with the back one of his knuckles. "I mean you look beautiful sweetie. Though I do want to see the other dress. I thought it would be so much better to wear something to go with your eyes."

"I don't know." There had been another dress or two, however Jackie had chosen not just the one she liked the most, but the one she felt fit her best.

"I mean this is just as good. It does match your hair at least. I could think of worse things to emphasize." Jacob's mother swooped in. Without provocation she started to play with Jackie's hair, smoothing it as she was planning on putting it in a ponytail. "It's such a lovely color, blonde with a teal strip. You share that with your father. One of his better features. Bit more exciting than my plain old brown." She thought for a moment before cooing "Oh maybe I should dye. We could match. "

"How do you dye underwater?"

"Very carefully." The woman winked. "Now, how about I see your tail in it?"

"Maybe later." Normally she would take the request, but for reasons she rather not say out loud she had to decline.

Her hair was finally let go only for the hands to reach her shoulders. They started to push down on them in a non-committal massage of sorts. "Don't be shy."

"No, ah I really think it can wait." Until she had clothes that would compensate for a mermaid's tail

There was just a moment where Jackie just felt her shoulders get pressed down, but before long there was a laugh. "Okay, if you say so. I'm just thinking about how that would look. We don't want anyone thinking that you don't belong or anything like that."

"I don't believe that's a concern." Jacob pushed into the conversation. "There are plenty who prefer web toes over a fin. I don't believe we're hear a word of gossip." He said it like he was guessing, but Jackie had a feeling that in reality he was demanding it. No one would say a word

Jacob's mother relented. "Why don't we finish this up. Harold a little bit of makeup to finish her look?"

"Of course m'am." The butler bowed.

"Actually" Jackie cut in. "I think I can handle my own makeup."

"Oh really, you know how to put on your face? Ponder me, I just assumed from looking at you." Jackie rolled her eyes, excepting the comment. "Well alright. I'll give you a moment of peace. Just holler if you need anything dear."

Jackie gave her a 'smile' before turning back to the changing room. She slide the curtain back into place before eyeing her discard shorts. She picked her pockets, receiving the chocolates inside. Before she could unwrap one she saw on a shelf eye level to her a teal purse that wouldn't be out of place next to her current attire. She grabbed it and shoved most of the candies inside just before she began to snack.

She bit off the neck of one bottle before slurping the content of the chocolate.

How do you drink liquor underwater?

Very carefully.

* * *

"I should be fine for a minute. Don't think that nap time will end for a bit more." Mrs Diaz moved down the stairs. Her movement was quick, but soft enough to not wake a mouse. "Marco, who was it?"

"It's Ferg and Al, mom." Marco answered, not that he needed to. His two friends were standing right next to him. "And also." Marco shook his head, thinking better than to tell his mom who else had stopped by. "nevermind, aren't you supposed to be up stairs looking after-"

Angie cut in. "Your father." It took her a moment to realize what she even said. "Yes, well your father should be fine on his own for a little bit. It helps teach independence in-" she chose her words carefully, "- husbands for them to be without supervisor for a bit."

"Also you might disturb his nap Mrs D." Fergerson added helpfully.

"Oh you heard that from all the way down here?" The mother whined.

"Mom." Marco said.

Angie forced herself to perk up. "I mean, yes Fergerson, I might disturb Rafael's nap. He was feeling tired and had to take a nap. That is a perfectly normal thing for a man his age to do."

She added that last part hastily.

"Mom. I already told them about Minnie." Marco added lamely.

"Oh" Angie said, though this didn't she to relax her. "You did."

Alphonso confirmed his pal's statement with words that fizzed like a bottle of club soda.

Mrs Diaz eyes seemed to dart around the room. "Does anyone else know?" When no one else popped out the room she focused on her son. She formed a tiny but visible smile. "Before I act silly."

Marco shrugged, "Janna?"

"Oh, that's a given." Angie scoffed. "I go to her when I need to remember your social security number."

"You do realize what is wrong with that statement, don't you?"

* * *

"He's awake." Jackie didn't know who it was that was telling them this. By the white robes they wore, she could only assume they were the king's doctor. She could assume that the hideous bone white was universal.

Jacob didn't smile or frown. He just nodded before attempting to move forward into what Jackie was told was the royal bedroom. He only made it an inch before stopping instantly as his mother touch his wrist. The woman waved at the doctor, "Could you announce us."

Jackie couldn't tell what the healer's expression was underneath their heavy robes, but they did swim in ahead of them and declared, "Your majesty. The lady Marcia, prince Jacob."

There was a awkward hike in their voice but they did finish with "and the princess Jacqueline."

It was only then did the matron allow her children to move forward.

It was a sight to behold. A dream suite that Jackie would've taken advantage of, if it wasn't for the circumstances for why she was there. The one flaw of the dorm was the gigantic bed which stole away much of the available space.

It was dark. It pushed away the light with the silk curtains that surrounded it. Only a beam was allowed in. It was for that reason that Jackie could even see the outline of the body. There was someone there. She for a second tricked herself into believing that the entire thing was an elaborate trick, but the body solidify it all into reality.

There was an expensive looking blue chair next to the bed. Instead of sitting on it, Jacob simply moved it aside. With one arm he reached and pushed aside the curtain and Jackie could make out a pair of eyes, shut. Jacob bent over them. "Dad, hey it's me Jacob."

"Is he awake?" And if so Jackie wondered if they should really be disturbing him.

"Wide awake." Jackie didn't see where the queen had gone. She got her answer when the curtains on the other side of the bed were burst open. Marcia as the royal doctor had called her, place her hands on the king's brow and pushed so Jackie could get a better look. He started to squirm. "Just look at his peepers, they're cracked. Hey hubby, it's us."

"Don't get too excited to see us." Jacob chuckled. It quickly died. "Please don't. You should really be relaxing."

"Is it really okay to be here right now?"

Jacob turned to Jackie. He nodded. "The doctor gave us the okay, but I understand why you are concerned. I would like to believe this is helping." He looked back at his dad. "That's not foolish, is it?"

"No," She shook her head. Then with a bit a practice beforehand, put on a smile. "Let's make him feel better."

Jacob was able to mimic it. "Hey dad, it's Jacqueline. I told you I'll find her, just before I left. Why don't you sit here."

He gestured to the chair beside him.

"Right here?"

"Right on here." Jacob confirmed before he continued to address his dad. "She's a bit taller than she was last time you saw her, right?"

He peered upwards to his mom. She had her elbows on the bed, resting her chin on her palms. "Mom we should leave them alone."

"I got it." The mother nodded and said her goodbyes, "Later honey, bye darling," and then raced past the doors.

Jackie almost forgot to object, "Wait."

"Is everything okay?" Jacob asked.

"Don't you want to be here?"

"Yes and no. If that makes sense." Jacob covered his face. "Does that make sense?"

"Perfect sense." Jackie nodded.

"I want to be here, but he's seen me so much he probably sick of me."

"No he's not. Though he probably wants you to focus on other things." Jackie hated to say it. It was said to her many times before. "Whatever you need to take care of yourself."

"I do have projects and besides I wanted to bring you here to him. It's only fair that you stay." He dared to hope. "For a little bit?"

"Okay." She didn't have it it her to push against it. Jackie turned in her seat towards the body on the bed, sitting still until she heard some footsteps and the low shutting of a door.

She squeezed her knuckles against her lap and then relaxed.

Jackie dragged her seat closer. "Hey." You.

She cursed.

That sounded way too damn casual. "I'm Jacqueline. Do you remember me?"

He opened his mouth and her ears perked.

The king groaned. It was long and wheezy and sounded nothing like a coherent word.

"Can I do anything?"

The body took in a series of broken breathes.

Jackie pushed away the curtain a little bit more. "There's a lot that we can catch up on. I was on a dimension called Earth."

She saw him, his beard was grey, but it had just enough color spread out that she saw her own, both teal and blonde.

"It" She had to cough. "It was really great there. I have a bunch of friends and a wonderful family."

She had to swipe her palm against her eyes. "It all turned out fine.

She had to swipe her palm against her eyes. "Now I'm here and so are you and-"

She had to cover her face. "-It's not fair that I have to do this twice."

* * *

"Like I didn't even know that I liked him. We were just gonna die and he suddenly told me he had a baby and I thought 'well we're not gonna see each other again. I have to say something' and I did." "And then like he didn't say something and that was fine cause Marco's a dad." He's shouldn't be looking for a girlfriend. He has Hekapoo and the baby.

"But then Hekapoo was all like 'he can do whatever he wants." Meaning not only was she stuck with the realization that she liked Marco but also the realization that he wasn't completely off limits. "And that is totally like unfair." Ya, how dare Hekapoo let him have personal freedom? Star realized the unfortunate implications of that statement, but still dug her brow into Kelly's stomach. "What am I supposed to do?"

The muttering into Kelly's core came to the end and Star tilted her head up, digging her chin into her friend's gut as she looked at her with glossing eyes.

Guess it was time for Kelly to stop listening and give advice. Any advice. "Oh um."

Wonderful.

Eternal words of wisdom.

"I want to say that you should go for it." Kelly sighed, "I mean if you really like Marco and he's really available, why not."

Star poked for head out of her friend's stomach for a moment. A glimmering look of hope beamed upwards to the green hair girl. A glimmer that was swiftly murdered as she continued. "I want to say that."

Despite how awkward of a position the two were standing in, Kelly tried to hold on to the princess in the most comfortable manner she could manage. She let out a deep sigh. "Star, I don't know. This could be me thinking this way because my own relationship is in the dumps at the moment, but Star this just might not be a good time. There might never be a good time."

"But Kelly-"

"This is a baby, Star." Kelly presented as if Star didn't already know. Maybe she forgot. "I don't think we could handle this at our age. I don't think I could handle it when we're adults."

"I'm an adult" Star stood. "Sorta."

Way too sound confident in your own maturity.

She crossed her arms "I have the family wand. That's means I can be trusted." She frowned. Releasing one of her arms, she pushed against her forehead. "Besides for all those times I janked up."

"Star I'm not trying to call you immature." Kelly shook her head.

"I know, but taking care of the baby." Star insisted, "I can handle that. Like I babysat before and I was good that it."

"Okay at it." Star amended "It's just that if I'm thinking about how cute she is than I'm not thinking about how cute he is and if it was like the three of us together for a little bit. That wouldn't be the worst thing in the world."

She thought it could be nice. There didn't even need to be a title associated with it. Star could just be there.

"Star, that seems a bit committed."

Star agreed, "It does."

"Okay, but like Star. That might not be the best idea." Kelly said. "I mean. How is it?"

She peered out of the corner of her eye. "Like I'm not in the same space that you and Pony are but she tried to explain this to me once. Like. 'Mirror call Pony Head.'"

Kelly spun on her heel and cried for the speculum.

Not for the first time today Star was greeted by the mascara soaked image of the disembodied horse. "Star it's terrible. You won't believe it, the bounce lodge."

Kelly cut in before she could say anymore. "Ponyhead, tell us about your sisters."

"Oh man, my sisters are just the worse." Whatever she was upset about it's gone from her head now. Pony groaned. "Let me tell you. They talk back all the time, they snoop around me my room, take my stuff without asking."

"Oh Pony, that sounds like the worse." Star sympathized quickly just to get her obligation over with. "Hey Kelly what does this have to do with anything?"

"I'm thinking of like the worst case scenario, but like Star you're suppose to get married and have a daughter." Kelly pointed out.

Star didn't really get it. She didn't see how that was at all related to this. She wanted to say that much.

"And I'm always telling them 'please will your ugly faces put back my stuff when you're done framing me for homicide' y'know all polite like." Pony Head went on despite of the conversation that was happening around her. She didn't need to see her friends acknowledging her, she just assumed they did and well, Star really couldn't ignore something like that.

"What?"

"Ya, I know. I let those girls get away murder like literally, not literally and oh my glob, have I ever told you about the twins and their indie music, talk about a total nightmare."

Star grimared, "Wait, no Pony the murder."

"What murder?" Pony blinked.

"The murder you just mentioned, the one your sisters try to frame you for." Star raised her voice towards the end of the sentence. She didn't believe she had to remind her friend of such an important detail.

"Oh that, girl that was like forever ago." Pony scoffed, "I already forgot we were talking about it."

"Pony." Star brooded.

It just didn't seem to faze the horn horror at all. "Man, Star, you know how it is."

"No." Star finalized, "No I don't."

"Like sisters always want what the others have. Like I can't even pour myself some cereal without being swarmed by like five girls who look just like me but are sufficient less good looking." Pony spared a moment to smile, "So like girl, just because I'm the oldest they all got to try act tough just to dethrone me."

"Star, what I'm trying to get Pony to explain is that kingdoms and siblings even step siblings can get a bit messy." Kelly clarified.

"Geez, that's the understatement of the century. It's not just dirty, it's like mud wrestling or whatever. Like they all want to knock in down in the muck and get it all in my hair, but in the end my mane still looks perfect because it's attached to me." Pony whipped her mane about. "So why you want me to trash my sisters? Not that I need a reason."

"Well. Just because." Kelly struggled, "You know how I am. Just love hearing you talk."

"So do I. My voice is divine" Pony Head cheered, "but no really, why?"

Kelly whined behind her teeth. Star whined behind sealed lips. Both gave the other a look before silently making a choice.

"Pony. I'm in love with Marco and I told him so, but he has a baby." Star admitted.

"I'm on my way."

* * *

"Oh man. This is so boring." To be honest, Janna thought that a outer dimensional trip would be a bit more exciting and it was for the first couple of minutes, but honestly she could've had the same experience going on vacation a state over. Even worse the whole entire thing boiled to her waiting at the library while Jackie was at the castle.

She was in the dry section for obvious human reasons. Her legs were on a reading desk while her chair was leaned dangerously back, her body balancing on one of it's legs.

Janna had actually tried to read. She was fond of basically any piece of literature not assigned to her in school, but honestly her heart just wasn't in it at the moment. She pulled out a chocolate bottle and peeled the candy in a spiral. She stuck the neck into her mouth and bit, sucking up half the liquid before leaning back just a little bit too far.

Her reflexes were good enough that her head landed next to a book shelf instead of on it. Her back still stung however.

"I meant to do that." She said to no one in particular.

Flat on her back something caught her attention. "What's this?"

She slip her hand underneath the book case. If Janna had worse eyes she would've mistaken it for one big dust bunny. "Didn't know that a place fifthteen leagues under the sea could even have this much dust."

The lack of cleanliness didn't bother her. She had been through too many moldy old books in her time. Sitting up she patted the object against a bookshelf to loosen some of the dirt before she huffed it way. It wasn't really a book, she could tell that much before she even start the cover. It was too flimsy to be anything other than a manual or a magazine. It turned out to be the later.

It was brightish. Obviously some of the ink had started to fade from age, but she could still see such a thing on a waiting room table at a doctor's office.

Maybe she could've used something lighter. Janna had no luck before but maybe her mind just couldn't soak in anything heavy at that moment. She was ready to give potentially fifty year old gossip a shot. Turn out that zines are basically the same in any dimension. Who's dating who, dating advice, fashion, conspiracies and don't forget about the royal family.

Normally that last one wasn't her highest priority but instead of some foreign country like a article would normally be about, this one actually held some relevance to her or at least her friend. There was no better moment to learn what kind of folks her new found family was.

Janna flip through it quickly and were greeted with the smiling face of nearly two dozen people. She snorted. "As if a new mom and brother wasn't enough to deal with. Jackie sure has a lot of cousins."

Most of the kids in the picture were unknown to her, but she was able to figure with one was Jacob with no issue. He was the only redhead, something Janna was grateful for. Otherwise she wouldn't have recognized him. He was a runt, the smallest of the entire bunch.

His mother was right behind him. Her hands on his shoulder, holding him close. She basically looked the same, leaving some proof of her whole 'aging was for the poor' comment. She wasn't standing next to Jackie's father, which was strange. Then again she was just assuming that the man in the photo was Jackie's father. He was the only adult male there and he looked like Jackie though. Janna could admit to that.

"What's that?" Janna nearly banged her head on the bookcase. Something she didn't appreciate considering she already filled her self-injury quota for the day.

"Jeezum." Janna recognized the voice immediately. She didn't need to look as her friend curled up on the floor next to her. "Thomas I'm the one that's supposed to be all sneaky"

"Wasn't on our first grade friendship contract." Jackie joked.

Janna snorted. Turning to her best friend she got her first good look at her. It was a fantastic sight. She checked her out from her feet up. "Oh man, Jackie you look-"

Then she got to her face. Her eyes red, her hair unkempt like she had clawed through it. Once Janna saw that, it was easier to see the smeared makeup on the side of her dress and the chocolate stain on the bottom of her dress. "-miserable."

Jackie just made a noise underneath her throat like an affirmative grunt.

Janna bit on her bottom lip. "How did the whole thing with the king go?" She fought to keep her voice from cracking.

"It went." Jackie laugh or screeched, Janna couldn't tell. Jackie unwrapped a chocolate and half of it was gone in one bite. "I got there all dressed up and he was so delirious that he couldn't even speak. He didn't recognize me."

"Jackie. If he couldn't say anything, you don't know that." Janna didn't get a response. All she heard was chewing as Jackie quite literally shoved the rest of the sweet into her maul.

"You're really going to town on those." Janna commented. She pulled out a few spare pieces of of her pocket and dumped it into the blonde's hand. "Here, I've had enough."

"Thanks." Jackie unwrapped one immediate and stuck it in the corner of her lips before she began to stand up. "Let's go. It's too late to get a cab back, but Jacob prepared a room for us. Not at the castle, at a hotel."

Janna wasn't in a hurry to follow her and rise. "Jackie, you don't want to talk about this?"

"You know that's not who I am, Janna." She might had meant that as a joke, but it sounded too bitter.

"Okay, just make sure you tell me when you're ready" Janna finally started to force her body up. "You'll feel better afterwards."

"I won't."

"It might feel that way now."

"No, I won't feel better Jan. Talking doesn't do anything." She might not have meant to hit that bookshelf. Her arm just kind of smacked into it as she turned and it rattled for a moment. If it hurt, Jackie didn't show.

"Jackie, just-"

"I can talk and talk and talk about it and in the end I still have to live through it. It's not like if I talk, I'll magically won't have two sick dads. Screaming about my problems isn't going to make me wake up one morning only to find out I hadn't been toss away a decade ago. You think if I yelled at Marco, he would instantly not have a kid anymore." This time when she slammed her fist on the shelf there was no mistaken it for an accident. "And there are no words I could say that would stop me from getting abandoned again and again and again."

The bookcase rattled and rattled and rattled, until Jackie began to drop.

Janna could only believe that Jackie's knees gave up on her. No matter the reason, Janna stepped forward."

"It's going to okay." She caught her. "You haven't been abandoned, you still have your mom and you still have me."

"I was really trying not to say anything." Jackie murmured and grabbed. She didn't seem to care where. It seemed like she was trying to steady herself and that lead to her grabbing both one of Janna's wrist and her side. "Just dumping a bunch of trash on your front lawn."

"That's okay." Janna laughed in spite of herself.

Jackie seemed fall even further, resting the top of her head on Janna's chest. "You're not gonna leave too, right Jan?"

"I'm not going anywhere. I promise."

Jackie's head scuffled upwards until the two of them could see enough eye to eye. Beyond the messy hair and the puffy eyes Jackie smiled, reached and her lips brushed against another's.

* * *

With books and papers in the boys hands, Angie figured out pretty quickly why they were there. She encourage it with a quick "Go ahead."

"But mom." She could already fill in the blank. What about Minnie.

Angie stroke her boy's arm. "Play for a little bit. You won't always get to enjoy it." She smiled at Alphonse and Ferguson before turning back upstairs.

"You'll let me know when if she's up, right?" Marco asked.

"Of course." Angie beamed before waving the kids away. "Now go down stairs. I'll bring down some snacks in a bit."

When Angie reached the top of the stairs, she turned towards her room by habit, but in the last second, spun the other way.

If anyone ever ask, she wasn't sneaking. She just wanted to be quiet because of the baby's nap. Stalking down the hall she crept until reaching a door unlike any other in the house.

"Star?" She wanted to ask, but it died on her tongue and she didn't say anything at all. She just pressed her ear against the door.

Quiet.

Angie imagined that made sense. The princess had seemed happy, but then again that was easy enough to fake.

She just hope that she was doing the right thing, taking away her children's scissors.

Angie shook her head.

She hope she was doing the right thing taking away her son's and Star's scissors.

She felt like she was clipping their wings. As a mother however she had to make sure that the kids were safe. A job she felt she wasn't doing her best at.

Either way she had to give Star space. Without as much as a tap on the door, Angie walked away.

"Rafael." She whispered as she cracked her door. It was meant to catch her husband's ear but avoid her granddaughter's. "Rafael."

There was no response. The grandmother pouted. She had no choice but to push on. Any scolding, even as a joke was halted by a light rumbling that filled the air.

Her husband laid on his side; a line of drool down his cheek; his chest steadily rising and falling. "Well. Looks like I wasn't lying. You're really down for a nap."

Moving her heels carefully she slid over and gave him a peck on the cheek.

Sweet dreams.

Now for Minnie. She should probably let her husband sleep for now. She could take her grandbaby downstairs. Cradle for on the living couch. That way when she did wake up her son would hear the baby immediately. A win-win.

Angie walked over to the crib, lifted the blanket and there was nothing.

The blanket was loose, pushed a side and abandoned. The bed was empty.

"Oh." Angie blinked. She ducked hed crib underneath the crib, as if there was some way for the baby to have fallen out.

"Oh no." She checked behind the dresser, underneath the bed and finally out of desperation the crib once more, but there was no one else but her and her husband in their room

Minnie was gone.

* * *

 **The way I have the chapters planned out, the next one will focus entirely on the Diaz family and friends while the two after that will continue and hopefully end Jackie's saga. (It might go on to three. I don't know how long it'll take.)**


	16. Chapter 16

**This was suppose to be like half the length I swear.**

* * *

Okay relax Angie. Think about the order of the events. You came upstairs with Minnie, put her in the crib, went downstairs, came back up, and she was gone. It wasn't too long, like fifthteen or thirty minutes if you think about it.

Besides she was basically in the room or the stairway this whole time so it wasn't as if the baby went out the front door or anything.

Were the windows locked? She believed all the windows were locked. That was good, all thinkable ways for Minnie to get out were gone.

She had to be in the house somewhere.

All she had to do was quickly sweep through her home and she'll find her granddaughter in no time. So if she was Minnie, where would she be?

That would be a much easier question for the mother if she had known the baby for more than an hour or if Minnie had been awake for any of that time.

She just had to breathe.

In.

Out.

Okay good. Now where could her granddaughter be? House was on lock down. Husband was asleep. Son was downstairs with his friends.

Star. She had to be in Star's room.

The grandmother paused from her act of dressing down the crib to tensely move around her sleeping husband to step out to her room, switching to a light jog until she was banging on the exchange student's door.

A restrained Star answered. Maybe the girl was being cautious of the mother after her 'grounding' or maybe the suddenly calm nature of the teen was all in her head. It didn't matter at that moment, what mattered was "Star, you wouldn't had happened to picked up Minnie, just to play with her?"

Star blinked. She even began to smile a little, "No Mrs Diaz. I think I learned my lesson about troubling babies when they're sleeping. Why?"

She stopped answering Star, opting to just standing there. Her eyes were forward the general direction of the blonde, but no one could say that she was looking at Star. "Mrs Diaz, why?"

There was a dead moment in the air before Angie snapped to the side, crashing her hand into the railing just as her toes jabbed down the stairs. Star followed her warily, asking repeatedly "what's wrong".

This shouldn't have been possible. There was no way she could've gotten out. Someone would've saw her. Someone would've noticed, but then again this wasn't the first time someone was stolen from under Angie's nose.

Angie swung down into basement. The banging of her steps resembled that of a body hitting the ground. It demanded the attention of the boys.

"Mom, what's the matter?"

Angie looked at her son and swallowed. "I can't find Minnie."

"What do you mean-" Marco stood up. He felt dumb. She couldn't mean what he thought she did, but what else could it be? He galloped past her, nearing knocking down on his way up.

He stumbled when he reached his parents room. It was like he half expected to tackle the door down, but the way to the room had been left open, giving him a clear view of the empty crib.

Marco didn't remember running to the side of the bed, but was just at the doorway one moment and by the crib the next. He gripped the bars and just inspected where his daughter should be sleeping. It was chaotic, immediately apparent that his mom was on the edge of tearing the piece of furnishing apart as if that would produce the little girl.

The boy saw nothing. For a moment there was a slip of sanity. He imagined that maybe if he reached his arms in and pretended to pick up the infant that maybe it would turn to reality.

He shook his head. No, he knew better then that.

Marco frozed. His mind tried to think of appropriate course of action, but any constructive thoughts were torn down by worry and regret.

It would've been more constructive to listen to the dissonant snoring of his unaware dad amongst the other background noise of the house.

"Marco, I'm going to call the police." Angie was behind him somewhere. He hadn't heard her come in.

He could barely hear her at all.

"Marco."

There was something else. It was loud, deafening almost. It sounded like fireworks, a sparkler to be exact.

It was somewhere in the room.

"Marco, what are you-" The crib banged against the wall.

The father didn't know if he made a crack in the wall or not, but either way he could apologize for it later. Marco just needed the it out of the way for the moment.

It paid off immediately. There was a red light in the corner of the room where the crib had once been. There was something there and all Marco had to do was reach for it.

He reeled his hand back.

Marco shook his hand furiously. When he settled down he clenched the tip of his finger tight with the palm of his other hand. It felt like a burn. Like he had stuck his hand in front of an open flame and a stray ember jumped onto his finger. Realization hit him so quickly that he didn't even whine from the short jolt of pain. He had felt this heat before.

"Mom." His voice hitched, but he continued all the same, "Wait here. I got to get something really quick."

Marco charged past his mother before she could even ask what that something was.

Angie stood there with the house phone cradled in her arms. She fidgeted around, having the obvious desire to do something, but the iron clad patience to wait to see what her son was planning.

She got her answer very quickly.

"Mom, have you seen my scissors?" Marco kept her straight, a hand on each if her arms.

Angie bit her lip "Why?"

Marco turned his head to the red spark suspended in the air where his daughter was just sleeping. Angie followed his gaze.

"Marco, I'm not sure-" that's a good idea?

Could Angie really tell Marco not to charge in blindly. As if she didn't once saddle up on a horse in a full suit of plate armor.

She casted her eyes down, took three steps into her room to a dresser and with two practiced motions pulled the requested item out.

It was slipped onto Marco's palm like it was made out of glass.

"Mom, search the house, search everywhere in case Minnie is still here." The plan was second thought. Marco huddled over the red point in space and stabbed the blade of the scissors down. With a jerk of his shoulder he ripped apart space, red sparks dancing around the newly created hole before frizzling harmlessly in the air.

"Marco." Angie could stop him now. She wouldn't have a chance later. "Please be careful."

She didn't know if he heard her as he fell through space.

Angie went into action. She moved over to her slumbering husband, gently pushing on his bicep, "Rafael, get up. We need to start moving."

They would need the extra pair of eyes and the wife had the feeling that the love of her life would feel more than a little irk if she didn't wake him up im the face of this emergency.

"Rafael, you have to get up now." She started to push just a little bit harder.

There was the doorbell and Angie instinctively sighed. She had no idea who it was, but she didn't have the will to deal with them. She had someone more important to worry about.

"Pony." She heard Star cry out. It was Star's friend. This could be good. Another set of eyes. Not the most responsible set of eyes, but a set of eyes all the same. "And," Star continued, "Who are you?"

Oh.

Oh dear.

"Rafael. You said you cancelled on the Morrisons, right?" Angie started to rock her husband, "Did you actually cancel on them or did you think you cancelled on them? Rafael."

She gave one big shove, "Rafael," and he rolled right off the bed.

"Oops" She grasped and raced around her bed to her now definitely awake husband. His cracked open eyelids either a side effect of his exhaustion or a vague look at betrayal.

Despite the look, Angie latched onto Rafael's arm and hoisted him up.

"Don't worry about them. Talk to me." The two strangers were forgotten temporarily as Star's vision was filled 100 percent by dismembered horse head.

"Pony-"

"I mean. I'm such a good listener" Pony praised, "and that's not to say that Kelly isn't, it's just that I'm the best."

"Okay, but-"

"Don't worry, just lay it all out. Your bestie is all ears."

Kelly slapped a hand over Star's mouth before the princess could give her friend the chance to interrupt her once again. "Pony, the baby is missing."

There was just a moment where Pony Head actually looked speechless. Of course the moment wasn't meant to last. "The baby is missing. The rugrat is here? Was here?" As if the baby would suddenly align with her vision Pony started to float around the two girls in a figure eight as she searched the home. "What do you mean missing? Where did go? Did someone take them?

"Was it these guys?" Pony shot up until she was snort to nose with one of the strangers.

"Um, no." The man answered.

"Liar." Pony spat out. She twirled in the air allowing the man an excellent view of her horn. "Where did you come from? Who sent you?"

The man tried to inch back. He couldn't the other stranger, a woman held against his back, allowing him to act as a barrier for her. "Please leave us alone talking floating head."

"Pony" Star energetically scolded. "It's probably not them."

"Ya, why would they still be here if they did it?" Kelly agreed.

Pony however didn't relent. She started to circle the couple looking for any signs of guilt."To throw us off. They're the last people I would think of."

Star brought a finger to her chin as she began to consider it, "That does make sense."

"Wait, Star. No it doesn't" Kelly tried to act as the last bastion of common sense.

She was immediately ignored.

"Where did you take Minnie?" Star yelled.

"I don't know who that is."

Angie made a sudden stop when she made it down the stairs. Sudden enough that she could feel her husband's chest hit her back as he balanced himself.

"Grant" Angie smiled, "Shana. What are you doing here?"

"We're doing whatever you want. Just call off the horn." 'Grant' Morrison didn't exactly know why he was between a floating and a teenage girl pressing some toy against his arm, but he wasn't exactly good with pressure.

"We thought we were still on for dinner." 'Shana' Morrison despite the situation tried to politely greet Angie.

Angie tried to summarize as best as possible. "Change of plans."

"Ya, we on for an interrogation instead." Pony Head cheered. Her horn just hovering over Grant's skin like an executioner's axe.

Angie brought up her hand and bapped Pony down like a half inflated balloon. "No, no. Not that."

"You're lucking my partners holding me back."

"We're not doing a good cop-bad cop thing." Angie hissed.

Star drew the mother's attention. "Mrs. Diaz, where's Marco?"

"With his scissors" Angie sighed, "Looking for Minnie."

"We need to be out there to."

"We will be. Someone just needs to guide Rafael." The father hadn't left the steps from when he bumped into his wife. Somehow while attention was off of him he began a very dangerous balancing act of sleeping while standing up.

An act that would've ended with his falling a couple feet squarely on his nose if it wasn't some some timely intervention by Kelly. "On it," she said as she dug her shoulder into his chest to prop the man up.

"Seems like we caught you at a really bad time." Mr Morrison began, urging his wife to back away so he could do the same.

"Oh, where do you think you're going?" It was pointless, Pony was already behind them. "All hands on deck."

"Are we being kidnapped?" Mrs Morrison asked, "Is this a kidnapping?"

"Don't be ridiculous" Star marched between the two "This is more of a draft."

"That doesn't sound better."

* * *

Willoughby was living the good life. There was once a time he was a five year old middle age dog working a nine to five dead end job.

He threw that away without a second thought and now he could just be what he was always meant to be, a dog relaxing on a bench as his owner got ice cream.

"Willoughby. I got you a treat." Vanilla hit his superior sense of smell as a old lady waved a cone right in front of his snout.

"Thanks Lydia." Willoughby sat up, giving his owner enough space next to him.

His initial charade of pretending not to talk lasted all of a month before Lydia found him yelling at the radio listening to a sports game. Dumb, but to be fair it was a good game.

The real revelation was that she knew he could talk the entire time. She just figured he had a reason to keep quiet and thought she should respect that.

After that life became even easier. For example Willie could actually tell Lydia what flavor of ice cream he wanted and he could enjoy it while she gave him pets on the back of his noggin.

The dog took a breath after a long lick of the cone.

Life was good.

That's when something crawled right pass the duo.

"That was a baby." Lydia said and she looked at Willoughby.

Then she looked at the baby moving further away. "It's going to that construction site."

"No." Willoughby said.

Lydia tilted her head.

"No." The dog repeated, "I know where this is going. I've watched cartoons."

"But Willoughby-" Lydia began.

"I'm gonna go out there and get into a world of hurt." It wasn't an hypothetical. The dog said this as a stated fact.

"But Willoughby-" Lydia persisted with a bit more of a whine then before.

"And I'm gonna get nothing out of it."

"But Willoughby-" This time it carried a pitch attuned to that of a tea kettle.

"You can't make me do it Lydia. I refuse. You're not getting me up there. Ain't no way. Ain't no how." He shut it eyes and it was that that moment that reality struck him, "And I'm already on the site aren't I?"

It only took opening his eyes to see that he was halfway up the steel rafters of a unfinished building.

He hated comedic timing.

"The things I do for love" The pupper whimpered at the sudden height he found himself at. He didn't have much time to contemplate his life choices. Whoever's kid was crawling carelessly along the steel beams of the future building's skeleton.

"Someone stop that kid." He gave chase.

At that moment every worker on site must've been simultaneously deaf as all seemed to happen as that a small lift carrying bricks began to rise. The baby, with a sudden burst of speed, rolled forward until she was on her tush before the platform could leave her behind.

While this elevated the baby girl, this left the dog standard and very panic. He could only think of one thing to do.

"Paws don't fail me now." Press himself against a beam until he somehow found his way vertical.

A brawny looking man braced himself as he shot a rivet down and then another one and then another one. His arm jerked slightly for each one.

He repeated this until he felt something sweep against his leg.

He didn't jump, he knew how high up he was. He just straightened his back and gave whatever was pressing up against him a gaze.

"Oh hi there sweetie." The horn was a little bit of a surprise. Hell, seeing a baby a couple stories off the ground was surprising in general, but he put on a smile anyway.

It seemed like she was just moving along until he got in her way. Seeing her path closed she sat up and stared at him and then at the rivet gun in his hand.

She stretched out her arms and started to grab for the air.

"Oh you want to give this a try?" The man jostled the riveter in his hand for a moment, before gently placing it in the infant's mitts. "Is it a good idea to give babies power tools? I don't see why not."

"Don't worry I'll save you."

Minnie turned swerved around on her diaper and spotted on the other end a pupper walking on it's hind legs.

That was exciting. So exciting that she had to give the riveter a big squeeze.

Willoughby eyes shot out of their sockets. Legitimately they grew like three times their size and shot right out before jumping back it. If he didn't have to make time to duck under the sudden barrage he would've made a mental note to see a doctor about it.

Minnie vibrated, bouncing as she shot rivet after rivet. Her baby self moving around a bit the longer she squeezed. Until her trembling causes her to backflip right off the construct.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no." Willoughby's little doggy hind legs. He had to think quickly. There was rope, of course. It was a construction site. He grabbed that. Now he just had to loop it around something real quick.

Thank the almighty tiny doggo god for conveniently placed anvils. The rope was secured quickly, one end around the anvil the other on the dog's waist.

"Okay, I got you." Willoughby soared down like hawk. Making a nose drive for the giggling baby unaware of the danger that waited her in mere seconds thanks to the force of gravity.

The canine fell, moving closer and closer to his goal who tumbled and giggled in the air.

He could feel her in his paw, the tuft of hair on her head tickled his doggy claws and then the baby gave a quick wave and promptly disappeared right in front of him.

Which was a thing that happened and he had to accept it immediately. It gave way to a new problem. He was traveling to the ground in not ideal speeds.

He had to trust his knot tying skills. All he had to do was fall, the rope would catch him and reel back up like a giant bungle. Sounds like a idea.

He had this.

Of course as he was figuring this out he found himself an inch into the concrete belly first.

"Ow." Well it was more of a indescribable howl that he let out, but "ow" was close enough.

"Wow." Lydia took a step closer to her dog. She squinted at the sky. "Where do you think she went Willoughby?"

Her best friend let out another whimper.

Lydia reached out to him. "Ice cream?"

It dripped down a but on his snout. It tasted good and the cold did help towards lowering the immeasurable amount of aghast he was in at that moment.

He bet he felt better then any one of those cartoon dogs. Usually they went unappreciated at the end of their shorts. He on the other hand had his best friend beside him, always ready tell him how he did a good job.

It was nice.

Of course that's when the anvil fell on him.

* * *

It was dark?

Marco wondered for a second if maybe he should've taken a peek into the portal before jumping in. Though when he thought about it, he doubt that would've changed anything. He wasn't going to hesitate to find Minnie.

Marco brushed his arm against a wall, using it to guide him along. It was stone, maybe brick. As his eyes adjusted he could see another wall just to his left. It was an alleyway of some sort.

Oh boy, a dark lonely alleyway, that was exactly where he wanted his baby to wander around. Then again, it was so dark that Marco doubted that any potential danger would have still been awake.

That's when the sound of broken glass swept followed by a bellow.

Then there was nothing.

No, not nothing.

There was something at the distance.

Around the corner.

No, further down the street.

The streets, unlike the alley was lit by the moon, a purplish lump in the sky which seemed large compared to the one from his home dimension. Marco, weary, moved by the buildings. They were tall like something from a major city. Tall enough that he could hide in their shadow.

It was a temporary, as he hear the chattering he wandered into warm lights that heated his face.

Fire, that was fire. Not a inferno, just flames. Flames on torches and flames scattered on the street. It didn't take long for Marco to see what caused those.

A bottle flung from one group and scattered another. It scattered, sparks flying in every direction. It did very surprisingly little to discourage either mob.

"Get out" A voice rang out. It was joined by several others until the legion spoke as one. This went on for a bit, before starting to fade, but when the chatter seemed like it was a moment from dying another raised their torch with a scaly hand and screamed, "The House of Vhin ain't welcome here," and the crowd started repeating once more.

As some yelled others acted, throwing more bottles, their torches, pushing back against the other faction, that when Marco moved closer, looked much more properly armed, muscled and fed.

However more prepared they seemed, they however couldn't stop the first group as they lassoed a statue. Claws pulled on rope and with strength combined many times over they were able to make the monument budge. The gold statue fell.

Marco didn't see who it was of, a woman maybe. Then again it didn't matter to him.

There was a another light that caught his eye. Warm, like the flames that littered the settlement, but it was a bit far away to be part of the general chaos.

A bit up high, on something that looked like a fire escape. Marco had a feeling he knew what it was.

He took one last glance at the conflict, hoping he wouldn't be noticed before running. He kicked off a wall and gaining height grabbed onto the alien fire escape. Pulling out his scissors once more he sliced the light and flipped right in.

* * *

"What do you mean she disappeared?"

Willoughby would later praise himself for not flinching as the blonde powerhouse looked ready to tear him a new one with a rainbow beam or something equally fabulous. He could of course forgot that the reason he didn't flinch was that his head was being held in place by a shiny new neck brace. "The baby was falling to the ground and them poof, she was gone."

"It was more of a voom sound. I think." Lydia added as if that was a helpful addition.

Star leaned forward and gasp the shoulder of the canine. "Well did you catch her smell? Can you track it? Come on Willoughby, give me good news. I let you used my toilet."

"Maybe, I'll try." He started sniffed the air, "Who is this baby anyway?"

"Star. Why don't you touch base with everyone else?" Angie walked over and practically swung the princess from her side to the other. "I'll catch them up. I have Minnie's blanket. That might help with the scent."

Star couldn't really argue against that, not if she wanted to find Minnie. It didn't mean that she didn't find the close call frustrating.

"Oh, we were so close Kelly. We should've been able to find my baby by now."

Kelly fluttered around during the entire search, but if there was one thing that could make her pause it was that. "Your baby?"

"What are we doing wrong?"

"Well-" Kelly paused.

"Now you spit the baby up mister." Pony Head had her horn poking one poor unsuspecting man's neck. She allowed the threat float in the air before she let the ice cream man attend to his cart once more. "And one of those popsicles that have spicy candies for eyes. A girl gets famished with all this searching around."

"Have you seen my grandbaby." Rafael asked, his feet was firm on the ground, but any illusion of coherent was lost as his torso slumped over to one side.

The only response he got was the sound of bubbles popping that came behind him.

"Ya, Al is right" Ferguson translated, "Mr D that's a bench."

It was hard to tell if the grandfather was disappointed or embarrassed as he only responded to the boys observation with one long snore that caused his nose to whistle.

"-I'm sure everyone is trying their best." Kelly really did think so and honestly that was the worst part about all of this.

Mr Diaz agreed with a another drawn out snore that led to him muttering "possums" for some reason that only made sense to his REM induced mind.

"Possum?" Star asked, but that her eyes just lit up as she straightened her spine. She gripped her wand in both hands "That's it."

"Wait Star" Kelly held up a hand to stop her. "I'm not sure that was a suggestion."

It was far too late and a volley of rainbow rained forward so violently that even the resulting smoke cloud was rainbow in color.

"Woah." Fergerson looked down at his hands, checking that the change wasn't just in his head.

"Should I change him back?" Star suddenly process what Kelly had said, sobered up after releasing the burst of magic.

Standing in between Mr Diaz and Alphonse was a big giant white furball, standing at the height of two Rafaels and the width of three. Fergerson moved and his entire stomach bounced, moving in all directions like a oversized water balloon. He twisted himself until he caught up with his new attachment, a skinny hairless tail long enough for him to wrap around himself.

Fergerson hugged the tail to his body.

"Wait. No. No this is awesome. This is exactly what we need." The teen let go of his tail as he stood up tall to survey the area. "Possums are the hunters of the night. And they're not too bad with the ladies, if you know what I mean."

Finger gun.

"No" Kelly said, "No, I don't know what you mean."

The finger gun was swiftly put away.

Alphonse tried to explain with a barrage of noises and giggles.

"I don't know what you mean neither."

* * *

There is a old lady who lives in the town quarry. Her home is made entirely of hair. Some of it her own, some it thrown out by others. All of it collected by her.

Homeless, some would call her that, but she didn't feel like she was. She had somewhere warm, that was more she could say about a lot of people.

She did get lonely sometimes. That just made it the better when she did have guest. One such guest was a bouncing bundle of joy. A chalk white baby with stubby little arms which grabbed and climbed around her chamber.

She was surprised when she heard the laughter. She was equally surprised when a big welt popped out of her wall, but when she pulled her wall apart and saw the smiling face with very few teeth she couldn't help but to smile right back.

"Are you hungry dear?" The old lady cooed, and she laid a shallow plastic bowl in front of the infant.

The baby stopped chewing on carpet and sat up with her tush flat on the group. She lifted a arm splat a hand right into the dish.

More of the soup landed on the floor then it did the baby's mouth, but the old lady didn't mind. Just as the girl didn't seem to mind how cold the soup was nor the fact that it was filled with loose hair.

* * *

The portal was closer to the ground then he had expected. He nearly tripped on the other side. Marco had to catch himself with one hand. His palm stung a bit as he slapped the hard floor. It was made out of some sort of crystal. He couldn't tell what kind, but it looked familiar to him.

He stood up quickly, reeling his arm up. For some reason he didn't want to touch it.

The whole building was made out of the same stuff. He was inside of some place. He couldn't tell if it was someone's home or a labyrinth or whatever. It would probably be a good idea if he didn't make any noise until he found out. He didn't want to explain himself if he accidentally broke in.

He walked along a hall for a little bit. Eventually he did hear someone and the instinct to hide overtook him. It was coming through a doorway, a fork in the road. Marco already came this far, he wasn't going to quit looking now. He just had to sneak past, quickly if possible.

He got to the edge and saw a shade inside. He was sure it was facing away from the door. He believe that it would take about three steps for him to walk pass. He took about two when he suddenly heard "It's cool that we had the meeting without Hekapoo right?"

That got his attention. "Ah who am I kidding? I feel terrible."

It was Minnie's godfather.

He probably had a name, but Marco only remembered him as Minnie's godfather.

He was just sitting there on a couch talking to himself in a very poorly lit room. Marco didn't want to interrupt the guy's thoughts but he would agree that Minnie took priority.

"It's just that Omni was all worried that Hekapoo didn't tell us and I was just going to roll with it, but now I'm all freaked out.

Then again considering that the man was talking about Marco's baby's mama, the teen figured that the resulting conversation would've been a bit more awkward then he could handle at the moment.

"Like, I know she likes her space, but she usually tells us things that needs telling, so why not this?"

"Maybe she was afraid she'll be crystalized."

There was another voice. Marco couldn't tell where it was coming from. He could see no one else.

"Nonsense, I don't crystalize just anyone. Well I won't crystalize any of us, not since-" The man paused, "I just don't crystallize commissioners anymore. Besides why would I imprison anyone for this. It's a baby, Everyone loves babies. They're so cute, especially little Minvera."

Marco smiled. He couldn't argue against that.

"She tied us up by your ankles and used your cape for finger painting."

Yet another voice. If only Marco could get a better angle.

"So?" said the godfather. There was an short but awkward rest. "Hey guys, am I trustworthy? Like I can't say I never lied or anything, but I want to be the type of guy that people know they can depend on. That's all."

There was a short exchange of whispering. The two voices sounded like they were having a very private meeting between the two of them.

Until the first voice answered. "Well we guess you are."

"Got to admit, you do try your hardest even when we wish you didn't."

"You mean that?" The commissioner was obviously excited at the answer. "Oh man, you guys are the best arms ever."

What?

The two voices seem to groan at the compliment.

"I'm seriously" The man doubled down, "How long have we guys been together?"

"Over three hundred years."

"And you guys always know exactly what to say. You're the best hands I've ever had." Marco knew the man didn't have a mouth nor could he even see his face but the teen would've liked to imagine that he was smiling. "I mean it, I'm not even sad the old ones got torn off."

"Well we guess that you're the best torso we ever got stuck to." One voice eventually admitted. "Definitely rank one."

"Aw, that means a lot. Bring it here."

Marco took the chance to step into the room, but even as he moved closer all he could see was the man hugging himself. At least that what it looked like. He just had his arms clinging to his chest.

Would be the perfect time to cut in?

Actually maybe he should just let the guy have his moment.

Besides he could spot another spark just on the other side of the room, so he thought he would just mosey over there.

Marco slide one foot over and slide the other one to it. Going behind the couch, eyeing the man and his limbs as he inched to his goal. Silently as to not disturb them, he sliced open the rift.

* * *

"I'm sorry dear. She was here." The hair witch began. She stood at the quarry, just outside her home.

Star finished, "But she's gone."

"One moment she was eating dinner and the next moment she was just-." The woman mimicked a cloud of dust with one hand.

Star sighed, but she still tried to be polite. "Thanks for taking care of my baby."

"It was a pleasure." The woman nodded, "Wondered back then why a girl like you were running for."

"Why would a baby make anyone run away?"

The hair witch laughed, "I wish more folks felt this way. Now let me get my coat. I'll help you look." She retreated back into the giant clump of hair that was her home.

Star stood there for a moment, watching the witch's temporary departure. When Kelly pulled on her arm she allowed her friend to drag her away.

"Ridiculous." Kelly muttered.

"Ya, I know, right?" Star agreed, "Why would a baby make anyone run away? They can't hurt you. Their arms are too flabby to hold weapons."

"No, you." Kelly felt the need to give the blonde a bit of a shove. "You're being ridiculous Star."

"Me? I'm being totally rational. I'm going to get my baby back even if I have to turn all of Echo Creek upside down." Star lifted her family's heirloom above her hair like a mighty blade. "I have a spell for that." She explained, "Well I had a spell like that when I had the old spell book but I looked at it once. I think I can remember."

"Star, this is what I'm talking about." Kelly hissed. "Star you never even played with Minerva."

"Who?"

"Minnie." Kelly's palm clamped down on her nose. Figure that the princess had only heard the baby referred to by the father's little nickname, "You can't go around calling her your baby when you don't even know anything about her."

Star shook her head like she doing a double take. "What and she's yours since you know so much about her?"

"I'm not saying that. I'm not saying I'm her mother" Kelly with both her hands gestured to herself "I'm not saying anyone of us are Minnie's mother, but Minnie has a mom, and Star it's not you."

"I'm just trying to look out for her. To be there for her."

"And you can do that Star" Kelly nodded "but it really feels like you're focusing less on making sure Minnie's safe and more on being a replacement mom because of how you feel about Marco."

"That's not it." Star said, but didn't offer an alternative explanation.

"I just want to make sure it isn't."

"I-" Star zipped her lips before turning 90 degrees away from the other girl. "We don't have time to talk about this. We have to find Minnie. Where is Ferg and Alphonso? They better not be slacking off."

"Wait Star hold on." Kelly stuck right behind the mewman as she stalked away.

"So Angie," Shana Morrison spoke. She was still in the middle of Star's draft. "Who's baby are we looking for?"

The Diaz matron paused in the middle of directing the growing search party. Her teeth snapped like she was crushing a piece of hard candy.

"It's my sister's?" Angie guessed. The matron twisted her torso. "Why?"

"Just curious." Mrs Morrison said slowly before taking a step back.

"Well the description is odd." Lydia piped up.

"Odd." Angie repeated, "Odd, how?"

"Unique." Lydia tried a change of wording, "Chalk white skin, amongst other things It must've been a surprise when she was born."

She counted the features on her hand.

"Nope, she's a copy of her mother" Which was the truth, though Angie found herself subconscious playing with her own hair. "Mostly."

"You have a sister with horns?" Willoughby asked, standing on four legs next to his owner.

Angie froze. Gently, she crouched down. She was eye level to the canine, but somehow it still seemed like she was looking down at him. She pinched his collar and pulled.

With a growl she ended the discussion, "You're a talking dog."

With that the conversation was over.

* * *

"Nothing up my sleeves and Presto Chango?" The magician had met to pull out a rabbit. He took off his hat, tap a cheap plastic wand against it three times, shoved his hand in and he was pretty sure he didn't miss a step. He was positive that how the routine went.

So why was he grasping a baby by it's leg?

"Oh how did that get in there?" Presto laughed and so did his audience, a gaggle of children sitting right in front of him.

Okay that didn't go how it was supposed to but the rubes didn't exactly know that.

"Let's try that one again. Presto Chango" He tapped his hat once more. This time he had it faced down on a table. He lifted the hat and this time greeted a rabbit.

A rabbit that looked incredibly like a baby.

That because that what it was.

A baby.

The same baby to be exact.

Presto scowled looking the infant in the eye. It looked back and giggled before giving his nose a little pinch.

The children laughed, reminding Presto of the task at hand. He forced a smile on his face. He stepped aside and and rolled in a box. "I need a volunteer."

"Oh, oh, moi." There was an eager shout from beyond the children as the boy in charge of overseeing the birthday party shuffled around the herd of kids. "Francois just love the parole tricks."

The teen spoke in a deep french accent.

"Step into my box friend." The magician opened two separate doors for two halves of the box. The french teen climbed right in, flipping on his back, allowing his head to slide into a hole on one end of the box and his legs on the other end. Presto rolled the box so that the kids could all see. "Now, Francois is nice and secure and Presto Chango."

He split the box in half.

"That trickles." Francois laughed and right then the baby popped right between the cut from the half his torso was located.

She bounced at Chango's feet right on her butt, before rolling to the side.

"Alright, who kid is this?" Presto scowled as he little the girl, displaying her to the room. "Come here you pipsqueak. Now what are you?"

He saw her horns. He dug a finger through her hair, confirming at least to himself that the mass of born was attached. Strange for Earth at least.

There was more giggling and the child started to shake her head. The thing was ticklish apparently. A little touch and it started to lose it's mind in laughter.

"Dare I?" That is when the magician had an idea. He placed the baby on the table. "Oh who am I kidding, it's like-" He grinned. "Well it's stealing 'something' from a baby."

Presto opened his mouth and looked right at the baby who tilted her head in curiosity.

Nothing happened.

He opened wider.

The baby blinked and mimicked.

Poor thing. Had no idea what was going on.

Happiness seeped out.

"Wait, wait a minute." Presto gagged. He slapped his hand over his face, but despite that he found himself vomiting out wisp of energy. "This is not the way it's supposed to go."

The girl just sat there, mouth wide, breathing in sparks of golden happiness. They gathered into a ball before they disappeared beyond the baby's throat. She burped.

"Oh, oh is this what this feels like?" Tears began to form in the magician's eyes. The children looked at him, their mouth in o shape at the spectacular that just happened before them.

Their eyes were burning him. "What are you looking at?" He bit. "The world is filled with pain and suffering and I'm here stuck performing for some brats. I'm not even doing tricks, I'm using the dark arts to suck the life force right from out of you."

The look of amazement left the kids' faces. They tried to move as far away as they could without actually leaving their spots on the floor.

"Oh don't you judge me." Presto blubbered. He started to pull on his top hat and started to tear it in half. "That's the real world. It's horrible. Everything is horrible."

The kids began to cry, not entirely understanding what the trickster was saying, but being scared nonetheless.

The baby clapped her hands and giggled.

* * *

The spoon was swung once, twice around the rim of the bowl, stirring the sludge until it was a fine consistency on the spoon. Some steam floated up, but was quickly blown away.

"Rasticore. Open up sweetie." The utensil tapped against teeth before tipping allowing the gruel to dip down on to his tongue where it spilled over onto the hood of the car.

"Oh my, we're making quite a mess aren't we." She actually seem to giggle at that, then the next moment whatever spell the hag was under seem to burst. "Gemini, towel. Hurry, you lump."

"Coming miss" You could hear the short legs waddle as the indebted servant sped around from one side of the car to her side, a towel in arms. He aimed to present the item to her, but the gesture was left unappreciated as she grabbed one end of the towel.

"Could you be any slower?" She allowed the cloth to fall on the mess, "Honestly I should just drain the magic right out of you if you're going to be so useless."

"Yes, m'am. I'm very sorry m'am."

"Oh man." Neither one of them saw the face poking out of a nearby bush. Marco lowered his palm and allowed the branch to cover him up one more. He took a moment. Star would've been heartbroken if she could see this.

"Just hang on." Marco whispered, making a silent promise to the minion.

He felt something tug onto his pants leg.

It felt a bit like a slug base on the weight and how it was sticking to him. When Marco reached to pick it off the texture was like a slug, but when he looked at it the only description that fit was looked like a slab of meat. It had a big old eye in the center of it and instinctively Marco attempted to fling it away, "Gross."

It stuck to his hand and it started to vibrate. It felt like a million little feelers stroking his palm. It was the worse.

"Get off." Marco attempted to scrape the lump off his hand.

The bush shook.

"What was that." A old woman spoke. "Gemini."

Marco uttered a substitute curse underneath his breath. When he started to hear footsteps he figured that he had no time to deal with Miss Heinous at the moment. He pushed off his left hand, flipped onto his knees and began to crawl.

He had to go somewhere. As he heard Gemini's foot steps he seriously doubted that he could out shimmer the man so it was with a bit of luck when he spotted yet another portal just inches.

With a flick of his wrist, it was just a matter of worming his way through.

* * *

"No luck, Star." The 'french teen' very quickly dropped his accent as he whispered to Star.

The search party and birthday party ended up mixing together. Very notably with Fergerson who the kids started to circle around, kicking and climbing all over the possum, it was only the birthday girl's parents who knew they didn't order a mascot. They chose not to disclose that fact.

"The fantastic Francois humbly request to know the inquiry of this investigation." 'Francois' spoke a bit louder this time with the usual flare in his words.

"Beat it Charle" She gave him a little shove in his gut. "Unless you can tell me where the baby is in this exact moment."

"Hey wait, Star. I can see plainly that this has something to so with the Diaz and they're great. They're just all really great and I owe them. If I can do anything to help, let me help."

"Sorry, ya we could use it." Star admitted. "I just don't know how to feel right now. It's all just so tiring. Just look at Mr Diaz right now." The Butterfly pulled the man towards her who did an impressive job sleeping while standing right up.

Raphael hearing his name, jolted awake. He blinked and greeted "Hi Gustav," before his eyelids shut once more.

"Aha, I do not know of this Gustav that you speak of." Charle could feel the sweat on his brow. He put on a performance for the slumbering man. "It is I, Francois at your good service sir."

He was shoved out of the man. "Get out my way what's-your-face."

Pony Head surveyed the area. Her eyes scan through the party guest until she landed on a tall dark skinned man, "You, you own this joint?"

The man looked at the horse head and then looked at the ground confirm that it was indeed floating. "I'm paying the mortgage?"

"What a nice house you have." Pony Head smiled and then glared "Would be a shame if something were to happen to it."

"What?"

"I'm looking a baby, where is she?"

"What?"

"What kind of grudge do you have against Marco Diaz?"

"What?"

Pony pushed into the man, snout into snout. "Say 'what' again. Come on I dare you. I double dare you, say 'what' again."

"Pony" Mrs Diaz started to reel back the princess. Not so gently grabbing the equine until she was at least a foot away fro. The homeowner. "Now I appreciate it but maybe they really don't know anything."

"Please I have no idea what's going on." The man nodded.

"Marco Diaz is looking for his-" Angie slipped her hand in front of Pony's mouth.

"Sorry about this. We're just looking for a little girl." She explained.

"Who's little girl is missing?"

"Marco Diaz, what are you deaf or something?" Pony shook herself free from Angie's grasp. "Marco Diaz, age 14. Goes to Echo Creek High. His social security number is. What is his social security number?"

"I don't know." Star piped up. "I pretty sure Janna could tell us if she was here."

"Marco Diaz, people." Pony demanded the party's attention. She shouted with all her might. "We are all looking for Marco Diaz's baby."

"Stop it." Angie with one swift movement clawed for Pony's mane and pulled. She screamed. "Stop telling everyone!"

There was a stiff moment in the air. If Pony hadn't caught everyone's ear then Angie sure had

"Mrs Diaz." Star began "Why shouldn't Pony tell everyone?"

"I just think that maybe we should keep it" Angie looked around and saw eyes on her. "Should've kept it a secret."

Star swallowed. It didn't sound like she particularly wanted to ask "Are you ashamed of Minnie?", but she did anyway.

"No Star, of course not." Angie laughed. It sounded bitter. "I love my son and the moment I saw just a picture of granddaughter I felt the same love I had for my son instantly. I'm not ashamed of them. Marco is a good boy."

"Then why?"

"Because no one will know that." Angie spat. "It's just that things go a certain way on Earth, Star and you might not realize that because they been so nice to you, but sometimes when someone goes against how we were taught, people get angry and they can get mean. Marco has spent his entire life trying to do the right thing and they're not going to see that. They're just see-" Angie closed her eyes. "It would be fine if no one found out, I could take care of her. It wasn't as if I was gonna hide her forever. Just for now. Just for a little while."

The mother pleaded. "Everyone would be happy."

* * *

This was it the hottest new game of the year. Of course he was able to order the special edition that cost like way more even if it came with a dumb looking figurine that he didn't want. The whole point was that someone else wanted it.

He popped open the case and took out the disc. The console was turned on. The controller was in one hand. He brought the game to the edge of the disc tray.

The kid frowned.

"Bored." Jeremy Birbaum threw the game over his shoulder. "What is even the point of having things of they're all just lame."

At least he can spend a little time giving the game a terrible review. He step back and fell on his bed. He reached out for his laptop that he was sure was somewhere on his head.

He felt something soft and grabbed it. It grabbed back. The kid reeled back his hand. He sat up. There was a thing in his room with him.

"What are you?"

Whatever 'it' was, chose not to answer. Instead it raised it arm like it was waving hello at him. It stopped half way through as it' attention was caught by the gremlin's foot. It grabbed it's foot and seemed to try it's hardest to jam the thing into it's own mouth.

It failed, tumbling backwards like a pill bug, but it seemed to had enjoy the attempt. It giggled as it fell to the unseen mercy of gravity.

It was strange, a bit scary and just a little smelly.

So naturally Jeremy poked it. The munchkin grabbed the invading finger and when the boy yanked his hand back the little thing used the appendage to sit back up.

It leaned forward a bit and as thanks started to gum Jeremy's hand.

Weird, but cool.

* * *

The wall excreted Marco, squeezing him out slowly until his heels pass through and he fell like a rock down. The landing was soft, through it did kick up a cloud of dirt. It was a bed. In someone else's house.

Overall Marco appreciated his luck, after all there were far worse places he could've landed.

That is when a tiny man tried his luck in eating Diaz's face.

Marco held a face with both hands as his nose came inches away from a snapping beak. Exploring with one of his palms, he found a length of hair which he grabbed and tugged away from himself.

"Ow ow ow." He knew that voice. "Who pulls on someone's beard? That's cheating. I demand a do over."

"Ludo?"

"Oh Marco. What are you doing down there? And to think I almost snapped your skull in two and sucked out your brains." The kappa did a little scuffle as he bounced on the bed over to Marco's side. He pulled on the boy's sleeve. "Here let me help you up."

Instead of sitting up, Marco snapped back and kicked the bird straight in the beak.

"Ah, that was a shoe." Ludo was launched back, stopping himself just before he could hit his head on the back of his bed. "to the face. I'll have you know, Marco. You're a jerk." The monster starting to massage his beak. "Just a big old jerkwad."

He gave a gasp as he was lifted by the chip bag he used as a robed. "I feel the same. Now tell me where Minnie's is." Marco forced the kappa to look him in the eye. "And Star's book."

"I have no idea who that is."

"My daughter." Marco spat.

"Daughter. I didn't know you have a daughter." Ludo spoke with amazement. "And to think just the other day I was trying to murder you and take over the universe. Oh those were the days."

"Ludo."

The monster asked. "What does she look like."

"She's small, a baby." Marco began. "She has brown-"

"A baby?" Ludo scoffed, shaking his hand in front of his face. "Definitely didn't see her. I would remember eating a baby."

Marco glared.

"Not that I would." Ludo amended. "Something I learn out in the wild was to eat every chance you got, but even I have standards. Like you don't see me chewing on your arm right now." His eyes wandered over the hand that held him up. "Unless you're okay with that, cause I could really quickly pop a finger or two in my beak."

Marco had drop the monster when he found the monster hover his open beak over his hand. "Stop that."

The teen jumped off the bed and soon started to tear at the room. Flipping boxes, the bed, the shelves all while Ludo watched with mild curiosity.

"Hey what are you doing?" The Ludo hovered behind him. "Are you looking for the spell book?"

"I'm looking for a portal." Marco said, dumping some cans out of a crate.

"That's probably for the best. I haven't see the book in ages. It just wandered off before I woke up one morning." The monster saw something in Marco's hand. "Oh that's my favorite board game. I used to play it back in my castle. I found it lying about and it almost has half the pieces. You wanna play a round?"

"No." Marco dropped the cardboard aside and removed a few other items from a medium sized container.

"Wow, just open up a chest and climb right inside." Ludo narrated as Marco stepped in and began to sink. "Fine. Be that way. Leave, just like everyone else." Ludo stared daggers at him even as he no longer could see him. "I'll play with Bird and Spider, even though they cheat, always trying to eat the cards."

That's when he heard something. It was slimy. Like jello. In the corner of his eye it started to climb. A small cut of steak that slithered up Ludo's wall to the portal Marco left there. "What's that?"

"Can you do anything yourself Gemini?" The young lord of monsters heard. As he found himself just behind a bush.

He stepped forward.

"Oh goodness. It's an urchin. Kill it." He looked to one side and saw some old mewman woman and looked to the other and saw some lump his side.

"Go away." He shooed them before pushing pass them. He followed the cut of meat as it continued to travel. Ludo eyed the anomaly. "I don't believe you want to get in my mouth, do you?"

Then he felt something pressing against his leg. He stopped and lifted his foot, allowing another bit of flesh to join the first. The two lumps started to move together.

A third joined, then a fourth than a fifth and more and more.

When the chunks finally met their destination. The sight that he would behold. Ludo thought it was certainly interesting.

* * *

"Sorry, Star. I haven't seen any rugrats recently." Emilio dropped a rag on his corner before he started to wipe around. "I mean, not unless you want a picture of my nieces."

"Thank you Emilio" Star could only Star at him like someone shot her waricorn. "And no, thank you."

"Who is this kid anyway?"

Star opened her mouth. A song before to play. Star closed her mouth and she brought up her pointer. "Hold on."

She cradled Marco's phone in her air.

"Hey. Did your dumb butt lose something?"

"Jeremy. I am not Marco. I swear by the just fury of the stump that I will end you if you mess with me." There almost seemed to be a heartbeat like dark pulse that shot off Star. "I am not in the mood right now."

"Kay" The brat's shrug could practically be heard over the phone. "Well before you 'end me', can you see if this baby is your's?"

"Baby? Minnie! You said baby, right?"

"Of course everything weird has to do with you and Diaz. Just get here already."

Star lifted her wand. A bubble of energy grew at it's tip until it burst, releasing a rainbow that engulfed the room. After the flash cleared she stood on a saddle of a large rhino like creature. "Come, my horde. To Jeremy Birbaum'a house. We have a baby girl to save."

The princess released a battle cry and allow her mount to charge through the front of the pizzera, the search party quickly followed after her.

The owner stood there alone.

"Hold on, wait for Emilio."

He jumped over the counter and ran after.

* * *

Jeremy lifted a pillow, took two steps and dropped it. The cushion joined the other's in a small group that ineffectively line the base of the bahamut of a mansion that the Birbaum family called home.

"Could you be any slower?" The kid groan and watched as his family's brought in another pile in a wheelbarrow.

"Sorry sir." The servant impassively stated as he dumped the load.

"Jeremy." There was a small earthquake as a rhino stopped in front of the boy. Star jumped off her mount and stared down at the rich kid. Her conscripted army not far behind her.

"Hey, if it isn't the Marco Ditz's girlfriend. Finally." Jeremy motioned to the pile. "Can you grab some pillows?"

"Where's Minnie?"

The boy pointed up. A couple stories high was the roof of the mansion. Aline with gargoyles and other statues that gave the building a monumental feel. Of course Minvera had decided that it was the perfect place to play.

"No!" Mrs Diaz cried as she stepped forward.

"Why aren't you doing anything?" Star gaped at the Jeremy.

"I am." The kid look genuinely insulted. "I'm putting down pillows in case she falls."

"Star." Angie grabbed the blonde's shoulder. "Star, Cloudy, now."

The princess shook at the sudden command but nodded. "Right."

"Cho." Minnie weaved around the statues. Until she saw one in the distance that caught her eyes. It was a tall one of a long dragon that sat at the corner of the roof. "Cho."

"Come on Minnie." The baby twisted it's gaze to the side. There was a cloud, pink slowly floating up to her. There were two ladie with their arms raised up high.

They were waving at her. She waved back.

"No, don't wave hello." Star cried as her summoned familiar brought the her to the baby. "Come over here."

"Come on dear," Angie added her voice to the persuasion. "You can't play up here."

"Cho." Minnie answered them and continued her crawl. Now that the baby was paying attention to it. There were sure a lot of people down on the ground. She would spare the occasional second to look down at them.

"Please Minnie." One of the two on the cloud cried. The two continued to plead and brag of her. As the cloud started to gain speed on the infant.

Minnie paused. One of the people down there she knew. There was familiar girl with bushy green hair. It's been so long since she's seen the girl. Of course the baby didn't have a concept of time but if she had to guess then she would've said that it had been over a billion years since she was last under the girl's care.

She wanted to go to her and so she crawled.

"Oh no." Kelly whispered to herself as she saw the little lemming start to move.

There was a shout, maybe from Star, maybe from Angie or possibly both as gravity began to overtake the baby who began to twirl in the air.

She laughed as she had laughed many times as her mother toss her about. Until like always she landed in firm capable hands.

"Got you." Marco smiled.

What everyone else had seen was a portal open right up half way through the air the teenage father dropping just in the nick of time to cradle his falling daughter and not make the perfect landing but an adequate one on some big white lump that just so happened to be in the way.

"Minnie." Marco gave a little kiss on the cheek and the baby started to roar with laughter, returning the flavor by smacking him on the cheek.

"Did I get her bro?" Someone groaned from below. Marco swiftly realized that the big white lump he was on shared the voice of his friend.

"Fergerson, you're a possum now. For some reason." Marco slide off onto his feet as Minnie started to play with his face. "Ya, that's my nose."

"Are you okay?" Kelly wasn't the first to speak, but her words were the first Marco could make out as a flock of people surrounded them.

"Oh glob, oh glob." Mrs Diaz was the other thing that kept Star was jumping to her death in her attempt to reach the father and daughter pair, but she was still quick to join them.

Marco chuckled. "It's alright Star. We're all alright." Minnie burped and a ball of hair flew out. "Mostly alright."

"Don't do that again." Star scolded the little girl who shrugged it off. "I think I now know why my mom is such a worrywart."

"Any good parent would be worried." Mrs Diaz reminded her.

"What is everyone doing out here?" Marco looked around.

Mrs Diaz gave Minnie a little poke in the stomach. "Looking for this dear."

Minnie grasped her hand and started to example her fingers.

Star smiled, turned and slowly shadowed out of the crowd. The village people moved closer to the pair and her spot standing next to the Diaz was quickly taken.

The princess gave a deep sigh.

"Star?" The girl in question straightened her back and turned. Kelly was right there beside her.

"I really lost my marbles." Star answered. She rubbed all around her face. "I feel so stupid."

"You were just worried." Kelly offered.

"No, like I reached out to her and I don't know. I expected her to just crawl into my arms? How dumb is that." Star felt the urge to go back in time to just a minute ago and strangle her younger self. "You were right Kelly."

Kelly had spent the entire day trying convince Star to calm down, but once she had all the green hair girl could do was say "Sorry."

Star nodded. "Me too, and I'm not saying I'm not crushing on Marco, but Minnie, she's Marco's."

"Glad to hear it." Kelly meant it. It honestly looked a little relieved that her friend wasn't completely giving up.

The hairwitch step forward and eyed the baby girl. She rubbed the chin. "I think I have a some left over material at home. This cutie here could use a sweater, it can be cold out here." She smiled and mimed shivering.

"How old is she?" Lydia asked.

And Marco answered. "Seven months, Seven and a half."

"How precious."

Mrs Morrison spoke, "I don't remember being invited to a baby shower some months back."

"Never got around to it." Marco shrugged.

"We should have one soon." Willoughby gave his ten cents.

Emilio laughed and gave the dog a quick pat on the head. "I think the pooch is right. Why don't I bring over some pizzas."

"And I can prepare a grand cake." A teen eyes lit.

Marco tilted his head. "Do I know you."

"The great Francois at your service." Charle gave a stage bow.

"I don't suppose we can send some invitations around the neighborhood." Mr Morrison pondered.

"Star." There was a pinch on the princess's shoulder. Mrs Diaz smiled at her. "Don't you want to play with Minnie?"

Star gave Kelly a quick glance before focusing on Mrs Diaz. "I thought about giving Marco some time alone with Minnie."

"Sweet, but I don't think Marco's going to get that bonding time for a little while." The mother looked over to where her son was being mobbed. "It takes a village."

Star bite her lip. "Is everything okay?"

Mrs Diaz frown and watch as all the people cooed over her grandbaby. Angie shrugged. "It will be?"

"Why even wait?"

Emilio gave a bellow. "Yah, party at the Diaz's right now."

"Alright" Ferguson pumped his arms. "and then after that Star can turn me back to normal."

Star gave a low hiss before grabbing tight to Kelly. She silently ask the girl to cover them with her hair, which she did and the two stalked away.

"Right, Star?" The possum searched the group for the princess. "Star, where you go?"

* * *

 **Copied from AO3:**

 **Used a lot of characters. Had to for that whole unity feeling I was aiming for. Strangely enough a lot of them are from episodes I didn't care for (Fetch, March and Pony, Trickstar, etc).**

 **Foreshadow a lot of stuff this chapter. Hopefully it'll make some sense when everything is said and done.**

 **Also may have made Angie look a little worse, but I was hopefully it would make sense why she is acting like this. Plus I was planning on making her look much cooler later to offset it.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Working on this chapter I realized it was getting kind of long so I split it half. It was mostly so I didn't skew the average chapter word count. Now I'm looking at the actually word per chapter and realzied I already did that. Both chapter 15 and 16 were like double the length of an acerage chapter. I probably could've posted the entire thing as a single one. Oh well, I already posted this part on Ao3. The 2nd half is mostly done, just need to grammer and spell check it. So be on the look out for that soon.**

 **Haziq: haha. Ya, considering the Morrisons didn't have canon first names that substition seemed obvious. Can't remember where I got "Shana" from though.**

* * *

Her shirt was off when she woke up.

A lot of her clothes were off.

All of them in fact.

Janna pushed off the springs of the mattress. She swept her arms around until she could find any piece of clothing.

There was something.

It was just her hat.

It might've been easier for her to search if there had been light. The bedside lamp would have to do. She reached around for a knob of any sort, eventually finding one on it's base. It would require only the slightest pressure, but before someone could say 'let there be light' Janna paused.

There was a grumbling behind her.

There was another figure on the bed, sharing her blanket.

Janna remembered instantly who it was.

She relaxed her arm, allowing her arm to slide back to her in the dark.

Janna cursed, "Why did it happen like this?"

She had to search for her clothes. It was poor luck that she found her jacket first. That was the one thing she could've lived without.

Soon she was alternating hopping on her feet as she shoved her boots on. With her outfit complete, she walked out.

It was a hotel. She knew that instantly. Long halls with numbers on each door. It didn't look bad. Had a oak with red carpet kind of theme to it.

Janna got into an elevator. She just couldn't be in her room at the moment. She should do breakfast. It was a hotel. It had to have a free breakfast of some kind.

She descended down and then immediately regretted all previous life decisions as she heard music, loud enough that the elevator door was particularly vibrating.

As the door cracked opened she remembered what was in the lobby.

A casino.

A loud busy casino.

Just what a hangover was asking for.

Janna groaned.

She figured that it was either headache down there or heartache upstairs. She stepped forward.

The teen dragged herself over to the bar, elbowing a few people just to move them out of the way. She needed tourist info. A cafe for breakfast, a museum, a freaking petting zoo. Somewhere that was quiet for once.

Janna walked in front of the bar keep, "Hey."

The man, either couldn't hear her over the music or didn't understand anything that wasn't a drink order. He set down a glass in front of a customer and walked away even after Janna delivered another "Hey." This one a bit louder.

"Oh great it's you." The glass was lifted by a marble white hand. Considering Janna only knew person with snow white skin she didn't need to guess who it was.

Hekapoo smiled as she sipped her drink. "Sorry, didn't mean to sound so happy about that."

She allowed her smile to fade, "Oh great it's you" she repeated this time with sarcasm.

Janna countered with her own "Exactly who I need right now. Marco's baby mama." The teen spoke the title with a little flare before slumping down. "What are you doing here?"

"Got tired of getting blackout drunk in the same boring hole." Hekapoo took another sip. "So I decided to get blackout drunk in a bright shiny new hole."

* * *

Jackie wrapped herself up in the sheets as she sat up. "Janna?"

Her friend wasn't in sight.

Maybe she was in the bathroom?

The blonde scooted over, keeping the sheets tight to her chest. She flicked the lamp on. It softly lit the room. "Janna?"

Her friend had to get back eventually. Not like she could run away, Jackie was her only way home.

The girl laughed. It stuck in the air of the empty room for a bit causing her to frown.

Janna wouldn't abandon her. Jackie knew that. Janna had promised her.

Teal eyes scanned the room. Her clothes were everywhere.

She gathered them up. She wished that it was her usual ensemble. She only had the dress for about a day and so far it was batting half and half for good memories. Plus there was a little bit of makeup on it that she must've wiped off before hitting the hay.

She put it on anyway. It wasn't as if she had anything else to put on.

Janna's stuff was still in the room. Jackie hated to admit that it was reassuring. Her backpack was half opened, knocked over on the floor. Jackie with her forearms shoved it context back in. This included what must've been the last of the chocolate that Janna hoarded yesterday.

There was one thing that stuck out. A magazine.

Jackie picked it up. Holding it out, she read "Exclusive with the royal family, eh?"

It got a laugh out of her. She wondered if she would get the celebrity treatment like that. That would be a disaster. Fun though, maybe.

There was a knock on the door?

Did Janna forget her keycard or something?

Jackie found her own purse and rolling the zine, stabbed it in. She walked to the door and checked the peep hole. The teen blinked. She stepped back, pulling the door with her.

"Rise and Shine." A jolly deep voice rang out.

It was full of energy which either meant that she had slept in late or that Jacob was a morning person. Wonderful.

"Oh." Jackie said and nothing else. She kind of regretted opening her mouth. The girl couldn't think of anything else to say.

He hung his head down a little. "I couldn't find you after your visit with father."

"Jacob, it is way too early." She didn't know if she meant 'it was too early in the morning' or if the wound was still fresh.

"Ya, I was never too good with timing or social situations in general." The redhead forced a tiny smile." I was just worried until I heard you got a hotel already." He was shuffling his feet, "You seem to be in one piece. How are you?"

"I'm fine." Jackie nodded a bit more than she should've. She turned around and glance at her now empty bed. "I could be better."

* * *

Janna stared at Hekapoo.

Hekapoo stared at Janna.

Then after a long awkward minute, Janna pushed off of the bar. "Well it was nice seeing you-"

"Don't you lie to me."

"-but I got to be anywhere not here and back in my room where my best friend still is not an option right now."

Hekapoo snorted. "Didn't think my any of you meatbags had connections here. I only got a room here because I'm a commissioner. Who's your friend?"

Her drink jousted as she pointed a finger over to Janna.

"You know, Marco's girlfriend." Janna fought the urge to cringe. She didn't do cringe. "Ex girlfriend, the one he's been having trouble with after you know." She trailed off.

Man she just made all that way more complicated. She was really hoping that Jackie and Marco could hook back up so that Jackie could stop being so down about it.

On the other hand even implying that the two were still an item made Janna feel gross.

"So what?" Hekapoo drew her attention, "My baby daddy set you two up? Part of an apology?"

"Nah, turns out that Jackie had some family connections. She's like the King's daughter." Which was weird to have learned but that was just Echo Creek weird.

"Always has to be wayward princesses making stuff weird." It was hard to tell if Hekapoo was nostalgic or sympathetic. "Haven't been to Atlantis in a while, who their king right now? The one with the pecs, the one with the trillion kids or the one with the weapon?"

Janna gave her a look "Like none of those?"

"Doesn't matter." Hekapoo shrugged as she finished her drink. "I'm here to get away from all that political crap."

Hekapoo brought up a finger. Her glass was taken and replaced quickly with a full one. Something with chocolate in it.

The sight of it made Janna whine. "Well I think I had enough atmosphere for a bit. I'm starting to freak."

Hekapoo gave her a side glance "Wanna talk about it kid?"

Janna swept a hand over her forehead. "I think this ride might be made for one."

"Come on. Hekapoo patted stool next to her's. "I need a new drinking buddy. My last one didn't work out."

"No thanks. I don't drink. Breaking that rule again is just asking for a repeat. Which honestly wasn't bad until I realize it was." She hissed. She hated how much she enjoyed ruining her friendship.

"That doesn't sound like the worse thing."

"I think I took advantage of my friend." Janna just let that sit for a moment. Long enough to get across how serious she felt it was. Not long enough for Hekapoo to respond. "Like we both had a mountain of boozy chocolate and she was all teary."

"Wait wait wait." Hekapoo spoke over the teen before she rant on, "You were both drunk. Not like you sat back and let her down as much candy as she could while you stayed dry. That would be scummy."

"I just wanted some chocolate." Janna deflated.

"Then you just both had a bit too much and ended having some fun. It doesn't have to mean anything."

"It might have meant a lot. At least to me."

"Ah." Hekapoo felt like she put the puzzle together.

Janna pulled her hat over her eyes. "Things are going to be so weird."

Hekapoo swirles her glass once and started to slurp the top of it. "Ok. You did a thing. Now what?"

"I wanna bail." Janna threw her head back. "I wanna get back home, but I promised Jackie I would stay with her."

"So I guess you're sticking around."

"Ya." Janna pushed her temples together.

Hekapoo leaned forward, trying to get a better look at the girl, "And your friend. How'd she take it?"

"Didn't stay to find out. She probably blew a fuse. Had to happen one day." Who was Janna kidding? "Nah, she'll probably forgive. That sounds worse. I want a slap in the face."

"Look at it this way-" Hekapoo advised, "Whatever relationship you two were going to have was going to end in half a century when one you died anyway."

"Dude."

"Just cutting to the chase." Hekapoo brought up her arms as a barrier. "I'm living proof. I don't have a long term thing and I'm doing alright."

"Words of wisdom." Cried out a whisper.

Gripping the bar, Hekapoo leaned back. The voice was on her otherside.

There was a pixie, hanging off the edge of a cocktail glass. Her finger traced the glass in front of her.

"Romance is a trap." She muttered. "It is a cage with a single lock. Stuck in place not by any real barrier but by a lack of knowledge of how the mechanism that keeps you in place works. Or maybe the lock is the promise that no other can love you more. You feel that there can be no treatment better than one you receive; that the small titillation from their affection is worth any price you pay in return."

The pixie wailed, "Take me back Alphonso."

The fairy's head slumped forward and she dipped into the concoction either to drown her sorrows or at least drown something.

Janna blinked at the faefolk. She quickly shifted her gaze back to Hekapoo.

"I said I was fine." Hekapoo repeated. Gesturing to the lady drowning her sorrows, "I don't know what her deal is. I don't know who that is."

* * *

Jacob got a chariot for Jackie and himself. Probably for her benefit more than his. He was able to outpace the ferry to Atlantis easily.

It was a bit bigger than that ferry. Limo size. Good to be rich. Probably one of the only goods things she could say about this weekend was that she got to ride in a underwater limo. Too bad the entire ride was awkward.

Jacob was bouncing a leg the entire time. His nose all but pressed against a window. He eyed the passing billboards. "Oh, Coral Crunch. Do you remember those? They were your favorite cereal."

"Cereal? How would you pour milk?" Jackie pondered out loud before slowly shaking her head. "Wait, let me guess, 'very carefully?'"

"Well no." Jacob swung his chin over to her. He gave her a confused glance. "Cereals more finger food here. Milk under water." There was a small laugh. "That would be silly."

His nose went back to the window. He kicked his head back and exclaimed, "Ah Saint O's." Jacob explained, "Mom went there."

"Really?" Jackie asked like the name would mean anything to her.

"Yup. Most say it's a nightmare." Jacob elaborated.

"Couldn't have been a military school." Jackie muttered. Picturing Jacob's mother, she couldn't connect the woman to a tough upbringing.

"True. Mom did come out fine." There was a quick nod of the head. His nose pointed at the window once more. "Oh, oh."

"Jacob, you don't have to do this."

His body jerked. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"The awkward small talk." Jackie stated, "Just chill dude."

"It must seem forced." He gripped his thigh as he tried to force smile. The effort was wasted when he shuddered, "I just didn't want to mention father."

"Except you just did."

"Ya, I'm a bit of a fool." Jacob leaned in close to his sister. "I just wanted you to know that you're not alone. Even if it seems like I'm used to it."

She could only speak the truth "I'm used to it too."

Jacob stared at her expression, scanning from her brow to her chin. He swung his torso away. "I've been selfish. It must've been painful for you."

"You thought it wouldn't be?"

"I hope it wouldn't have. I would like to apologize."

"You regret it?" Jackie asked. Her eyes grew hard.

"It may of made him a little happier." Jacob answered. "Even if I can't see it."

"Then don't say sorry.."

Staring to the far off end of the carriage, Jacob touched his hands together. "It's just that I don't want to seem unaware of my actions. I had hoped you would be willing to visit dad-" Eyelids shut tight.

"My dad" he corrected himself, "but I knew that this was a possibility that you wouldn't, but I couldn't help but to ask this of you." Jacob's grip tightened. It looked like he was begging or praying. "After all the rituals, the suffering, I believed that ultimately that this is what he would wanted. I had to do it for him and I couldn't wait for him to get better. There was no time for me to hope that would happen. I just felt so powerless and I couldn't think of anything else to do."

Jackie wanted to say she felt the same. Even if the man Jacob knew as his dad wasn't who she considered her dad, she knew the feeling. She had gone through the same thing and he was aware of it.

Jackie wanted to say that she knew how he felt, but something was off, "Jacob. The panacea."

"You told me it could cure anything. That is was some kind of miracle cure. Why haven't you tried it?"

* * *

Hekapoo pressed her hands together in a mock prayer. She pointed her fingers at the girl in front of her. "l'm just saying that at least got to spend a night with the person you care about. That's better then some."

"You talking from experience?" Janna asked.

"I'm old enough." The redhead said. She had lifetimes of experience.

"I'm talking about you and Diaz." The girl put bluntly. Janna wondered if the words the commissioner said to her, she also said to herself.

A white hand pushed down a straw. Hekapoo swished around the ice in her empty cup. "Ya. I had some time with Marco. It was good night, couple of nights actually and a few mornings. Glad it happened and now I'm good." Once that mandatory comment was out of the way, the woman switched gears, "It might not sound like it but I'm trying to be optimistic here. Guess a little miss sunshine act doesn't suit me."

"I wouldn't appreciate it if it did." Janna didn't appreciate anyone trying to sugarcoat. If anything seeing Hekapoo try and fail to act supportive lightened Janna's opinion of her. "I don't care about false hope."

"Basically my advice is to just stay clear for the moment and try to have fun while you do."

"Right got it." Janna nodded. She understood the logic behind it. Give some space to let her friend figure out what she thought of the incident. So Janna chose to step back and completely ignore Hekapoo's words. "I'm going to find Jackie."

The girl took about four steps before she turned around. "Staying back is how you dealt with Marco and honestly I think that caused him to freak out even before he found out about his kid." Janna stared across the room. Her gaze on the elevator she came down in. "I'm gonna actually deal with my junk for once. Jackie deserves that much."

With only a little bit of hesitation Janna started the track up to her room.

A walk that she had barely started when a ring of fire jetted up and around her.

Now she wasn't completely familiar with such an ability but she trusted her first guesstimation. With a stomp, Janna twisted on her toes and sent a death stare at the other girl's way.

Hekapoo sat. Her back leaning against the bar. She waved casually. There was a smirk on her mug. "Just having a little fun. Like I said."

Janna closed her eyes and straightened her back. With the same motion one would shoo a fly, the teen casually dismissed the flames with the back of her hand and continued forward.

Hekapoo cocked an eyebrow. She kept an eye on the girl until her journey across the room was complete and the doors of the lift obscure her. Then she allowed her curiosity to dictate her actions.

She casually set butt of the person beside her on fire.

A shriek was dulled. Bubbles lifted from the cocktail. It translated that the pixie with her head submerge was very much alive. This despite her not going up for air in the last ten minutes.

"Sorry." Even as the fairy glared at Hekapoo, the commissioner's eyes didn't leave the elevator. "Just making sure that the laws of physics are still standing."

* * *

The psychic waves from outside of the palace was easily picked up by the queen. She watched the two children from the front of the palace. They didn't seem to notice her at all.

"Jacquline, would you please calm down?" Jacob had to wrestle his sister to hold still. If they had been on dry land you could say he was lifting her over his shoulder.

Jackie pounded down on his shoulder blade. "Stop calling me that."

Jacob's arm muscles spasmed but his hold was steady. " I know you might be upset."

"No I'm not upset." Jackie's cough sounded almost like a laugh. She pushed off him. "I am way past that."

"Please listen"

"I should be at home, not here looking for some myth." The young girl spat.

"There's a chance-" Jacob yelped. His sister dug her nails in him.

There was a scream and he let her go. Normally there would've led to her crashing to the ground but under the water she instead floated up harmlessly. They both turned the direction of wail.

"Oh sorry." Queen Marcia covered mouth overlooking that her shrill had been telepathic. She looked embarrassed for a moment. "It's just the two were fighting." She moved forward, braving the mutually confused glances. "What's going on?"

"Your son is a liar. I came here to save dad. He promised me you could cure him. He promised."

Jacob looked like he wanted to sink down into the ground. He somberly admitted. "I can't deny that. I wanted to tell you yesterday. It just that you were so close to seeing father."

"Because it was so important for me to have two sick dads without a cure." Jackie didn't know if she meant to say it or think it but she regretted it a little as soon as it left her mind. The look on Jacob's face was too similar to her own for her to find any catharism in screaming at him.

That strangely almost made her want to scream more. "Was panacea another bedtime story?:

There was a giggle. "Is that all?"

"What do you mean "that's all?" Jackie jaws snapped at the queen. It was a good imitation of a shout. It at least made the evidently dense queen whine.

"Oh" The queen hesitated, "I'm sorry. I know it's your father. I didn't mean anything by it. I can seem a bit heartless sometimes. Jacob knows."

Jacob was steadfast in his position with the exception of a small bob of his head.

"You can correct me sweetie." His mother swayed her brow towards him.

"Well um-" The prince looked only mildly embarrassed that he couldn't mount a quick defense for his mother.

The woman rolled her eyes at her son before attending to Jackie.

"I know I can seem heartless," The woman repeated before her son could further sabotage himself, "but I know what it's like seeing someone you live break apart in front of you. Losing more and more of themselves until you can't recognize them, until they can't recognize you. I just prefer to look at it all positively."

"Ma." Jacob whispered. It seemed like even he had underestimated his mother.

"You can't change the past, but Jacob didn't tell you that Panacea didn't exist. If it's a myth that just means that it still might exist. Are you going to let that chance slip by?"

"I'm already here." At this point, she had to admit, there was no harm in looking.

"The royal vault" The queen eyes lit up. She stuck out a single finger. "The royal family keeps our greatest treasures in one spot. It is large, maze like almost. I've only been there once, but if what you're looking for something rare and valuable, it has to be there.

"Then show it to me." Jackie was a little impatience but she had been lied to once already.

"I will," Marcia nodded, "but not today. Tomorrow."

"It's a ceremonial thing." Jacob explained even though there was a part of him that wanted to hide away from his sister. "As part of my coronation as King. I was hoping to surprise you with it."

"He was hoping that his only sister would be able to witness it." The queen smiled, "Another reason why he felt it was so urgent in finding you."

"It was more for dad," Jacob reaffirmed but there was a tiny shy smile, "but I did hope you would be there.

"It would be really important to him, and you'll be able to search the vault high and low right afterwards." The woman shook as she spoke. She portrayed a level of excitement one would have while trying to calm down a child. Jackie didn't want to admit that it did help. "In fact why don't we make it really special. You're back home Jacquline. We can announce your grand return and the two of you can rip the hinges off the vault," The mother place a hand on her shoulder, "together."

There was movement in the water and suddenly Jacob was floating beside his family. "I would like that if it's okay with you Jacqueline." He paused "Jackie."

She didn't want to stare up at him. but when she turned her head her eyes just caught the queen who shared the same expression. "It's kind of hard to say no when you're looking at me like that."

Jacob smiled. "Now, I think it might be important that we all hurry up and get on with the day."

Jackie tilted her head.

"It just that I believe I feel a hug coming on" Jacob smiled, "and I don't know how touchy feely you are."


	18. Chapter 18

**As promised: the next chapter only a couple days after.**

 **jj-dog: Tried to follow your advice on this chapter. Hope it makes the story easier to read. Thank you.**

* * *

The carriage skeeted against the seafloor. A cloud of sand was disrupted where it existed until the vessel came to a gentle stop. The hatch like doors popped open.

Jackie couldn't see behind the dust cloud at first and after that her vision was still disrupted, but by the population of the market. The shoppers and stores were so busy and close together that the girl honestly had no idea how the carriage had been able to land square in the middle of it.

She couldn't swim an inch before she experienced being pushed around in the crowd. An arm reached out and pulled.

"Easy there." Jacob smiled down at her. "Welcome to the reef. The best spot in the entire kingdom if you ask me."

People moved around him. Considering how much larger he was then her, no one would have any luck moving him and had to circle around instead.

"A little bit dab." The queen wasn't too far behind the siblings. She chose to dress up a bit with some pearl necklaces and sunglasses. The later was probably unnecessary. They were at the bottom of a multiple layered bazaar. They were so far down the sun didn't reach. Instead the shops relied on artificial lights.

"You kidding, mom?" Jacob said only slightly more amused then frustrated. "You said you wanted shopping and these are the best shops around."

The queen made a whine. She nudged her son on the arm. "But the big places are all up there."

She tilted her head above. It was a more symbolic gesture. The glass domes that held the dry parts of Atlantis couldn't be seen.

"Tourist traps." Jacob scoffed. He held up his hand, saluting the people before him. "I want Jackie to see the real Atlantis, where all us seafolk go. Isn't this wonderful."

Honestly Jackie didn't really care either way. She had a day to kill and Janna wasn't with them, but why not spend some time underwater? Though if 'mom' wanted to spend time at the casinos, she didn't mind.

"It's a bit crowded." Jackie admitted. "Can't even say my school before homeroom is this packed."

"See?" Jacob's mother exclaimed. "She agrees with me. I think we should all pack up and hold on one moment-"

The queen glance to one side, lowering her sunglasses to the tip of her nose.

"What is this?" She scooted away to a display in front one of the shops. There was a rack of clothes. "Oh pants, and they're cute. I haven't wore pants since my school days."

The woman pulled one article off. Her tail split, forming into two scaly and webbed feet. "Do you think they fit me?"

The two kids shared a quick glance. It was followed with a small chuckle from the brother. "Didn't take much for her to get into it."

"Sebastian" The queen had already folded the pair over he arms and was in the middle of pulling another. "Bring me my bags. The large ones.

Out of the carriage flopped out the self identifying squid man. "I'll carry as many as my eight arms can muster."

Jackie smile until she felt a little shake from her brother. "Come on, get in there. If mom gets a head start of us then we're never catch up. There'll won't be any trunk space in the carriage for the rest of us."

"Actually Jacob" Jackie gently pried his hands off her. "I don't think I'm in dire need of clothes right now. I'm just gonna browse around for anything interesting."

It he was concern then he hid it with a grin. "Very well, we're spread out. We'll be able to keep on top of the sales that way. Just be careful some of these guys can be real sharks when it comes to haggling." He leaned forward and gave Jackie a playful jab in the stomach with his elbow. "Get it, it's a aquatic pun."

"It was jawful." Jackie teased before shooting off and away.

The boy laughed and shouted after. "Good one, but seriously take care."

"Where is Jacqueline going?" Jacob's mother paused her collecting long enough to see the back of the girl's fin.

"Just making the rounds."

"Alone?" The queen motioned over to her servant. "Sebastian, why don't you keep on eye on her?"

Silently, the squid man nodded and pursued.

* * *

Jackie lied and she knew she lied. She didn't didn't need to glare down at her dress to realize how messy it was. She could practically feel the eye shadow stain.

She just needed a bit of space and even though she had no clue what, if anything, she wanted to browse just jetting around helped clear her head a bit.

Once she got a hang of the bazaar traveling around was a much easier then she thought it would be. That didn't mean that there wasn't the occasional last minute turn or even a collision that flip her over and momentarily stun her.

Every once in a while she would stop but honestly everything seem a bit too exotic for her to know what they were, yet alone get excited for them. The more familiar stuff like jewelry and clothes was just that; jewelry and clothes. She would've preferred something not made for seawater. She wasn't planning on staying in Atlantis forever.

There was a sudden heat that tickled her nose. Something smell good. One if the apartments had some curtains in front of the door but she could see enough beyond it to catch dinner plates and food.

Her stomach yelled at her.

Jackie went from passed out in a hotel straight to a 'family shopping trip'. She didn't even get to see if the hotel had a customary breakfast.

Further in it looked like a diner. Ya, it was filled with water and Jackie was sure the stove looked like a tiny volcano, but it was still pretty normal.

There wasn't too many people and most of the people there were old folks with cleared out plates. They probably ate and just kept seated cause they had nothing better to do. It helped that the owner was a older women too. She had brownish skin with purple hairs and scales. She stood behind the counter, her hand being held with a gracefully aged gentlemen with salt and pepper hair and a red tail.

The owner seemed to be enchanted by him.

"Why, did I step into a calm, cause I see a priceless pearl in front of me" The gentlemen spoke with some sort of accent.

"Oh. Ernesto stop." The owner cooed, "You've been saying the same line for the past 10 years."

"Run away with me" 'Ernesto' brought her hand to his chest and started to kiss her knuckles, "and we'll see what the cosmos has to offer."

"I can't." The owner admitted, though she was smiling so much that it was hard to tell if she was truly disappointed. "I have to take care of my granddaughter.

The granddaughter, Jackie guess was a the young clone of the woman. Her chin was slumping on the counter barely an inch away from the owner. She stood out as a the only person in the diner under the age of fifty. The girl rolled her eyes and muttered, "Honestly I would prefer you abandon me if it meant I didn't have to see this."

Her vision started to wandered. It didn't take long for her eyes to meet Jackie's who had just sort of been standing there, hesitant to sit down. "Gram." The girl eyes grew wide. She pinched the side of her grandmother's dress. "Grandma Nelli, stop flirting. Stop flirting, there's a customer."

The girl, about Jackie's age, looked almost hysterical. She didn't wait for the 'Grandma Nelli' to respond to her, instead choosing to swim right over the counter and speed through her personal space until her face was just an inch away.

"Hi." Jackie got full view of the teen's pearly whites.

"Um," Jackie took a second to retreat to a more comfortable distance. "Hi?"

"Welcome." It was actually impressive that the girl managed to get that out. Then again telepathy was useful when you looked like you were a second away from hyperventilating. "Seat" The girl intelligently announced. "You should have one."

The teen moved aside allowing Jackie to do just that.

"So you from around here or?"

"Use to be" Jackie guess that was the closest to the truth. "From Atlantis, I mean. Not from this area in general."

She thought it wouldn't be a big deal but that alone seem to hook the girl's interest. "Really? Where you're from?

"A dimension called Earth." Jackie politely answered.

"Dimension?" The waitress heartbeat could be heard from anyone in the store. "Did you say dimension? Do you have dimensional scissors? That must be awesome. I bet you're like some warrior or-"

"No nothing like that." Jackie laughed it off "I don't have a pair. I'm just visiting family. What made you think I wasn't from around here?"

There was a snort.

"Cause no one visits this place but gram's friends. There's almost never any girls my age." The girl look like she could just die on the spot from boredom "I'm dying for some social interaction here."

The owner coughed. A stern look was thrown her granddaughter's way. "And I think the poor girl is dying for something to eat. Tanya, stop chatting and get her order. You can fool around later."

"Right," It almost looked like 'Tanya' remembered she had a job to do "Right, what would you like?"

"I'll have-" There was a menu boarded up against the wall. It didn't take long for Jackie to realized she recognize nothing on it. "I'm not really sure."

The waitress was patience enough with her. Tanya must've saw it as the social exposure that she much needed. After a minute Jackie ended up ordering something that sounded like sushi. Had to do with raw fish and seaweed so theoretically it was the same.

"Alright." The waitress smiled after Jackie told her to include a fish that she was one hundred percent sure she didn't pronounce right.

Yup, just smiled.

Just floated there with a big grin

Jackie didn't want to be rude but damn she was starving. "You're gonna get it or?"

"Yup. Totally." The smile never disappeared. "Totally."

Jackie coughed.

"Hey, you doing anything after this? Cause if not we can totally hang out if-"

"Get to the kitchen." Grandma Nelli lost patience before Jackie could.

"Okay. Okay I'm going."

The old woman not so gently shoved the girl back into the kitchen before resuming her place across from her flirty friend.

Jackie unzipped her bag. She had better make sure she even had the cash to pay for the grub. Jacob had given her some doubloons. They probably had a different name but doubloons felt thematically appropriate. She wasn't sure how much was enough, but she could check with the waitress. Something told Jackie that it wouldn't be hard to get her attention.

Meanwhile she could get some reading done. With her sack zipped open she could see the magazine she nabbed earlier sticking out.

It read 'Exclusive with the Royal Family.'

She pulled it out and flipped to the first page.

"You're in for a treat." That was as far as she got before a voice creep out from the stool aside her's.

One of the patrons was a old man. He was giving her a big grin even before Jackie turned to look at him. It would've been described as toothy but he barely had the teeth for it to qualify.

Instead he had a entire row of barnacles sticking to his gums for the world to see.

"You a bout to get served by the best chef in all of Atlantis."

"Oh really?" Jackie mused. Her zine temporarily forgotten about.

"He's just blowing hot air." The old lady who own the place intercepted the starting conversation. She tilted her head over to the kitchen. "Barry here, treats her like she's his grandkid."

"I'm telling you the girl has talent. She needs to open her own shop" 'Barry' demanded like had made this argument many times before.

"What?" Came a wave from the other side of the man. It belong to a woman with a droopy face. She held a couchshell to her ear.

"I said she needs to open her own shop." The man repeated louder.

"What?"

"I swear you're doing this on purpose." Barnacle man muttered. "I said-"

Slam.

A plate was shove so hard in front of Jackie that she was surprised it didn't split in two.

"Meals done." Back was undying smile.

The sudden shock distracted Jackie from the fact there was indeed food in front of her now. Through it looked different then she thought it would. Less sushi, more burrito.

"Whatcha reading?" Jackie hadn't even reached for the sea burrito when Tanya did a twirl from one side of the counter to her side. She perched over her shoulder, looking down at the booklet laid out. Two hands lifted it up. "Man this looks old."

The waitress examined it both front and back.

"Dunno, found it just laying bout." Jackie shrugged. She grasped for any knowledge she had of the newsletter. "It has a interview with the royal family."

That topic was gladly accepted by the socially deprived girl. She laid the magazine back in front of Jackie and started to flip through the pages. "Let's read it. Who are all these guys?"

There were about a dozen, two dozen people. A majority of them kids. Just from a glance Jackie saw only about eight people who could be considered adults in the article's title photo.

"The royal family?"

"Like are these cousins from other towns?" Tanya elaborated her question.

"I dunno. I guess." The questioning was odd. It felt like this should have gone the other way around. "Thought you would know. You live here."

"Hey, gram check this out." The waitress dives over to her older counterpart. She held the magazine for her to see.

"Mind your manners, it's rude to grab stuff. Especially from the customers." The grandmother scolded.

"Ya, whatever. Just look at this."

It looked like the elderly woman had much more to say about the topic but her eyes moved on their own, taking in the group picture. "Oh, doesn't this bring me back. Look at these babies."

Nelli pinched her granddaughter's shoulders and turned her so that the zine was facing the barnacle toothed man.

"Look at that." Barry spoke as if a relic had been presented to him. "It's the king with his wives."

"The what?" Cried the one lady with the conch shell.

"I said it's the king with his wives."

"What?"

"The. King's. Wives." The man punctuated. "There's a article right in front of us. Use your eyes, woman."

"Wait, did you say 'wives'" Jackie really didn't want to interrupt their but, but she had to. "-as in plural?"

"and all his babies." The owner gave a laugh. "I forgot how many of them there were."

The gentlemen off on the far side spoke up. 'Ernesto', Jackie remember him being called. "He was quite the playboy. Reminds me of less handsome version of myself."

"Playboy, right." The man with the barnacle teeth grumbled, "Young punk got way over his head."

"The guys not so young anymore." Grandma Nelli commented.

The man just pointed back "Everyone's a young punk to me, you're a toddler in my eyes."

There was a quick roll of the eyes. "Tell that to my aching fins."

They were wandering off from the topic at hand. Jackie had to say something. "Hey excuse me. Could you tell me more?"

"Well, what else." The owner shrugged, "Royal families come with royal problems."

Ernesto rubbed his chin. "All those ladies ended up tearing each other apart for the king. Which is the reason I'm a one woman type of man."

His gaze ventured back to the Nelli. He was batting his eyes at her.

"Oh shush," she didn't all seen bothered by his attention. "We don't know if it was the wives."

"It what everyone was saying though." The barnacle tooth man countered.

Jackie's eyes lingered among the elderly. "What exactly are we talking about here?"

"Maybe we shouldn't say anything." The owner proposed. "I don't want to spook you girls"

Jackie didn't have to plead. Tanya did it for her. "Wait wait wait. You're finally talking about something cool. Come on. Tell us."

"Girl has spoken." The barnacle man chuckled. He looked up, trying to rack his brain for the tale. "Well it all start ages ago with the disappearance of one of the king's daughter. That baby."

"She was a couple years old." The owner corrected.

"What did I say about all you young punks?"

"What was that name." It was on the tip of the grandma's tongue. "Oh that right, little Jacqueline. She was all over the news."

"They said it was the nanny." Said Barry.

"but I was friends with the poor woman." The owner spat that the idea. "She loved that little girl. And of course that when the curse began."

"Curse?" Asked Jackie.

"That was the joke back then." Barnacle clarified. "After that all those kids started to be picked off one by one. But we all knew it was a fight for the throne. It was all any of them were after."

"Wasn't one after the other at first, but there were accidents." Grandma Nelli expanded the tale. "Tons of them, it sort of started to become a monthly event after a while."

"Only one standing now is Queen Macia and the prince."

"She was poor Jacqueline's mother. Maybe her disappearance began the whole thing. A mother never forgives anything that harms her baby."

There was a smash. This time Jackie's hand on the counter, clenching a fist full of gold coins. A couple of the dubloons fell from her hold and floated down harmlessly on the floor.

She floated from her seat. "For my tab."

"But you haven't touched your food." The waitress went as far to pick up the plate to demonstrate that it has indeed remained undisturbed, but why that time Jackie was already halfway out of the restaurant, leaving the poor girl floating there. "Oh, man what did you guys do. I'm never going to be popular."

"Think we really spooked her that much?" said the barnacle man.

"What?" Said the old woman with the conch in her ear.

"Why do even have that shell? We're telepathic. We don't use our ears."

* * *

It took about ten minutes of circling the same dozen stores before Jackie realized that she didn't really have a plan on where to go. Actually that was a lie. She realized it as soon as her fin left the restaurant. It just took her the ten minutes to be honest about it.

At that point she paused and instead of taking the left like she had a hundred times before she took a sharp right, nearly body some lady with a large basket.

Should she have gone straight back to Jacob and the queen? That sounded like the worse possible idea.

Go right up to the potential killer and hope that you don't end up with your head on a pike. Brilliant.

On the other hand, maybe what that old lady said was true. That a mother never forgives anyone who hurts their baby. She didn't know how to feel if that was the truth. Should she have felt flattered at the idea of her family going on some roaring rampage of revenge?

She hated to admit that there was a tiny part of her that was. The tiny part of her that was abandoned and hurt years ago.

It was however overshadowed by the years of experience she had being raised by a loving and not psychopathic couple. That part of her wanted absolutely nothing to do with this.

Her hand snapped forward. It wasn't a planned movement. It not only shocked but also the random smuck that who's shoulder she ended up grabbing. "Is there a taxi around here?"

Of course the guy pushed away and swam off. That what she would do.

The again she wasn't in the mood for straight thinking. "Is there a taxi around here?" She just ended up doing it again to someone else with the exact same result.

The crowd didn't help and she was left to frenzy. She was left to just yell. Yell until someone took pity on her or until she was lucky and found her way out of the strange place.

She grew tired. She hadn't swan this long in years but if she stuck in one direction she could find herself anywhere but the bazaar.

She didn't get far before her torso was pulled back brutally around a corner.

Like she couldn't really describe it. It was a sudden shift in her reality. Her body was in autopilot when someone pulled her into the alley.

She had hoped she would catch someone's attention, but the exact path she was in lacked the lights that shined in the rest of the market.

No one could see her.

She could barely see in the darkness even as her eyes adjusted themselves. She could only tell that there were a mass because it was blacker than the surrounding shadows.

"Jacquline dear." But the voice. The masses' voice was unmistakable. "Is everything alright? You seem tense. When Sebastian signaled me I feared the worse."

It was the queen.

For the first time in who knows how long, Jackie spoke. "Why am i here?"

"Sebastian must've thought it the best. After all there's no point in causing a panic." She sounded genuine enough. Jackie felt something press against her forehead, "What is it? A fever?"

She realized quickly that it was the back of a hand. A killer's hand. Jackie shot away from it. Her back hitting a wall a bit harder then she would've liked, "Don't touch me."

"Oh am I doing again?" The embarrassment could be heard, "I don't mean to make you uncomfortable, but what else am I suppose to do if you won't talk to me?"

"Young Jacqueline here was trying to leave the area." Jackie heard. She realized then that the servant was standing just off to the side. He was so silent before that she didn't notice him.

"Oh no Jacqueline. If you wanted to go somewhere else, you only had to say something. I told Jacob how drab this area could be, but I tried to have fun for his sake. If it was for you he would've change locals in a heartbeat. Sneaking out would've just had him worried."

"I don't want to be here." Jackie stated. She couldn't remember if it was the first time she actually verbalized the wish.

"If you want to leave you just to ask." The queen replied.

"Then get me the first carriage out of Atlantis."

"Oh" It seemed that the full extent of the sentence hadn't hit the queen until that moment, "Oh my, i didn't think you were that sick of the place."

"What I'm sick of is you hiding things from me. I know about the royal family."

There was a laugh. "What is there to know?"

"That family reunions used to be a lot bigger."

Then there was nothing for a while. It made Jackie nervous that she couldn't see the face that the woman before her was making.

"Oh." The queen said once again. "Well life isn't always easy. Sometimes bad things happen."

Those words immediately seemed like nothing more than a ploy. The young girl would not allow her to downplay this. "Word is that you had something to do with it"

There was another pause.

Like before it didn't sit well with the neutral darkness around them. "Oh, those old rumors. I thought those were put to rest a long time ago. There was never any proof that I did anything."

"That doesn't mean you didn't do anything" Jackie thought a denial would've been so much easier otherwise.

"This is quite the uncomfortable subject" There was a hesitation with the queen's words. "Maybe we can talk about this some other time, maybe over some coffee?"

"Gonna have to rain check that. I'm leaving" and she would've if it was not for four different hands holding her in place.

"But Jacob worked so hard to bring you here. Couldn't you stay for just one more day? To see him become king?" The queen urged.

"I've done more than my fair share."

"But this is very important to him."

"He'll survive."

"It wouldn't be hard for you."

"Harder than you believe."

"Stay." Jackie swore that she saw a spark. It was hard to miss in the darkness and when the Queen pressed her hand onto her pain shot through her so quickly that she didn't have time to yell. She thought that maybe she had imagined it, that it was a result of her being blindsided by the sudden change of emotions in the queen's voice. Her breathing was heavy.

"Now listen here." The queen's words were spread apart. They walked the thin line of scolding a child and disturbing a threat. "I am trying to be the nice guy, which given the circumstances is way harder then you might think."

Jackie felt the water heat up. Her flesh was numb where the woman held her. She could imagine that the queen could only get a word out because she didn't require the use of her lungs. "Now you will stay quiet. You will go through the day. You will go to sleep. You will wake up in the morning. You will stand side to side with your brother and the two of you will open the palace vault like good little siblings. After all that you can do whatever you want, you selfish brat."

Jackie gave the shade the eye. She didn't quite care rather or not the queen could actually see the her expression. She defiantly declared. "Over my dead body"

She almost reconsidered it when the light shined on them. The heat from the woman's eyes, Jackie hadn't felt such hate for years.

"Hey what is everyone doing in here." Jacob carried a lantern over his head. He held it at the mouth of the alley. Jackie wasn't sure if he had bought or prepared it specifically for the outing. What was clear was the big smile on his mug. It was like a child walking giddle to have walk in on a secret. "Looks like I wasn't invited to the party. Should I feel left out?"

The queen gave Jackie once last look; one last shove that made her fall deeper in their servant's arms before wandering over to her son. "Jacob, we're going back to the carriage."

"Mom." The boy sighed. "I know the bazaar isn't your usual spot but-"

"Now."

"Wait mom, why?" She didn't wait, leaving her sputtering for a moment, before turning to the other occupants of the path.

He reached his lamp out to Jackie, who as she was being restrained by Sebastian gave him a hard glare.

Jacob's spine which was just full of confidence started to slump down. "Oh. So we're doing that."

* * *

Atlantis was a civilization under the water. It resigned in a dimension that was also mostly underwater, but there was a surface. There were many islands who's natives were familiar with the Atlanteans and vice versa. It was just that there weren't many reasons for civilians to go to the surface.

One of the few reasons were the coronation of a new monarch. During this occasion they would open the royal vault. The vault was on top of a large peak which began leagues under the sea but whose entrance was near the top where it poked out only a few feet over the sea level. It had the appearance of a small barren island surrounded by jagged rocks.

However the coronation was not today and so there was no one else there.

Jacob knew this and he knew why the they were there, forcing Jackie to move up the rough stone steps that lead to the vault door. 'They' in this case being Sebastian and his mother. He was consistently a few steps behind, looking up at the struggle.

He flinched every time Jackie screamed "Let me go" as she tries to escape the joint grip.

"Mom, maybe this is not the ideal action."

"It's never been hard for you dear. Not for a long time." The queen argued. She put more of her attention in restraining Jacob' sister.

"But this is Jacqueline."

"I pretty sure she prefers Jackie." The queen countered as cleared the last step. They stood at gate. It was a teeth like seal made of an unknown metal.

"Mom please." Even in the slow pace the queen and captive were going, the prince lagged behind. "We can put her down and pretend this never happened."

The queen released Jackie's hands, putting her trust in Sebastian. If it wasn't for the crazed servant holding her then she would've fell back from the sudden lack of a counter force. The mother retreated back to her son. The difference in elevation made it easy for her to look him in the eye as she stroked his cheek. "Jacob, Jakey. I know you want to do the right thing. This is it."

"How could you say that?"

It did nothing to make her falter. Just made her let out a exacerbated sigh. She glared back at the gate and snapped.

Jackie had only a second to kick back her head as her chest was slammed into the door. The quick action saved her chin some damage but her ribs still stung. She didn't understand the purpose but it didn't take long for the sudden mass pressing against her to shift.

The teeth like gate opened it's maw.

"That's how." The queen said, "The fact that anyone else can open that door is a threat to your reign. Jakey, I know you care about family, but this is more than that. This is about Atlantis. She didn't grow up here. She doesn't love it like you do."

"She can learn." Why couldn't she? He thought it was such a wonderful place.

"She doesn't want to. She doesn't want to be here." The queen played with his hair. Patting it as she soothed him. "She wants to leave here, leave us. She already abandoned us."

"Jacob" Jackie coughed. It wasn't until she spoke that she realized that the impact with the door made her lung sore. "Don't you realize how insane she sounds?"

"Yes it does sound insane." Jacob agreed, "but it is the truth. I know you have a good reason to leave, but Atlantis needs someone who can stand by it."

He stepped forward pass his mother, looked his sister in the eye and whispered, "I'm sorry." He really did mean it.

"Okay, I understand."

Hearing that the brother was thankful that Jackie wasn't going to make this harder than it had to be.

That is when she flung the back of her skull right into Sebastian face.

The squid he wore was knocked clear off and the man released a gut wrenching scream. "My face. My face."

He fell onto his knees as he scrambled for the dried up squid like it was his actual flesh.

The moment he let go Jackie disappeared into the gate.

Jacob didn't know someone could move so fast on above water. He barely had time to blink. The prince flinched as he felt someone touch his arm.

"We can't let her go." His mother said.

"There's no other way out." The vault was a vault, not a escape tunnel.

"Then I'll stay here" She eyed the gate. "In case she get's the chance to double back."

* * *

The entire vault was filled to the brim with gold. Jackie would've appreciated it more if she wasn't in mortal damage. Especially considering she had you fight not to slip over the treasure with every step. It worked as a barrier at some points. She had to vault over some fancy armchairs and specters. They were probably worth a fortune but they were useless to her now.

She cleared the obstructions easily enough and was satisfied enough to ignore the reality that she had no plan. She didn't know how to get out. What could she do but hide and hope they went away?

It wasn't as if she was just going to let them catch her. She had no reason to make whatever they were planning easy for them.

"Come here."

For a second she though it might've been Jacob. That idea was quickly squashed. It didn't sound like him. Didn't sound like him at all. It was much higher pitch while his voice was pretty deep, raspy where his voice was clear and finally it sounded rather faint.

"Please."

Jackie couldn't see anyone, but she just had a feeling that she knew where the voice was coming from.

"Am I really dumb enough to follow the shadiest voice ever?" The princess said to herself.

She hoped that the person would say something else, maybe present an argument to why she should listen, but she heard nothing else. She didn't even hear the clink clank of her feet against the gold coins. She realized that she momentary had stopped running.

She remedied that. "Ya. Guess I am."

The voice led to a dead end.

Jackie didn't realize it at first. It was a large circular room, but in the middle was a gaudy statue. The strange looking thing was enormous and she thought that maybe there could've been another path on the other side of it. She circled around it once before she realized the truth.

"I'm so stupid." A curse was spat at the rather strange ornament. She would have to run back out and choose another path. Something that crease being an option the second she heard a thunderous thud.

In the way was Jacob.

"Jacquline. This is a little bit awkward, isn't it." It looked like he wanted to try and smile, to try and joke as if this was a normal family meeting. In a way it sort of was. "You're pretty quick. Guess that happens when you spend your whole life on dry land."

The boy stepped forward and uttered, "You probably would've gotten away in most situations" before nudging a few stray coins with his foot. They felt out of place, probably kicked up as Jackie fled.

"You can really easily let me go." Jackie slowly shook her head.

"No, I can't." Jacob mimicked his sister.

The girl only had a second. She had to act fast. There was something sticking out of the statue's base. It was out of place, all she had to do was grab it.

So she did. "Get away." It was a weapon of some kind. A long crystal blue fork. It looked like ice but it wasn't cold to the touch. In fact it felt warm in Jackie's hands.

Jacob looked less than impressed by the show of force. "That trident will do you no good here." He proved his bravery by stepping forward. "If I had know that it would be this way then I would never would've looked for you."

"Then why?" Jackie would've had gladly stayed on Earth. In fact she was planning on it until the boy made false promises. There was no reason for any of this.

"I just wanted someone." Jacob took another step. "Over a dozen siblings, but there was only one that hadn't been spoiled over the year. You disappeared so long ago. I never had to fight you for the throne. I could just remember you fondly."

Whatever dreams he had was unappealing to Jackie in the face of death. When he took his third step she charged, weapon in hand. It spoke volumes how massive Jacob was for his age that the javlin's length paled in comparison to his arm. He just had to reach out to out space her. It felt like his palm was able to smack her entire torso. It was only with the slightest of effort that he would knock her down.

Between the lack of training and the difference of strength, Jackie dropped the weapon. The prince kicked it up with his feet, catching it in the air.

"I wish I could only have remembered you as my baby sister, Jacqueline. It would've been wonderful-" Jacob tested the javelin weight.

Jackie tried to get up. She regained her balanced in a impressive time, but her reflexes meant nothing as Jacob stepped down on the center of her back. He aimed the tip of the trident only the base of her neck.

"To have had my last memory of you been happy, instead of this."

With little flare, Jacob brought the trident down onto his sister. 

* * *

**And Cliffhanger.**

 **Worried the villain's decision might seem a bit sudden in the second half of the chapter but there is a reason for it that I hinted towards. I hope I did a good job with the foreshadowing before the reveal next chapter.**


End file.
